4 ms·

I completely agree. Except, unfortunately, there is no Android phone I can switch to. Apple gets most things right in terms of hardware. Switching to Galaxy S4

by esolyt 13y ago

I completely agree. Except, unfortunately, there is no Android phone I can switch to. Apple gets most things right in terms of hardware. Switching to Galaxy S4 would be downgrading my experience because of ugly and bloated Touchwiz and a display with wrong, exaggerated colors. Switching to HTC One, would be downgrading my camera. Switching to Nexus 4 would be basically be downgrading everything (camera, battery life, call quality, display) but the OS.

niggler 13y ago
"Apple gets most things right in terms of hardware." Applies to Macs as well.
- Shivetya 13y ago
  just wish OS X and accompanying apps were as good as the hardware they run on. From random beach balling, spending months with bad unacknowledged WI-FI issues that magically fixed after a patch, to the ever changing ever aggravating iTunes, I keep thinking it might be better loading a different OS. Apple truly makes some impressive hardware, it seems the software side of the company has not received the same focus.
  - mimiflynn 13y ago
    What OS are you considering? I've been running Ubuntu on my MBA for several months now and I find it to be faster and wonderful for most of my needs, but, not on par with the cleanliness of OS X. It works for me because I am willing to tinker with it and forgive things for not working at times (ex: having to point and click on 'suspend' since it would freeze in place if I close the lid or how my wifi has to be restarted every now and again), but, for the everyday 'normal' user, its not up to par just yet.
revelation 13y ago
Really? I thought we had established that pretty much all hardware nowadays is "good enough"? And that's why "software matters", DELL is private and "the personal computer is dead"?
- jes5199 13y ago
  That works for servers and desktops, but it turns out that when you have something in your actual hand, then things like construction quality and battery life are much more vivid.
- moogleii 13y ago
  Isn't that exactly what the article is saying?
corresation 13y ago
Switching to Galaxy S4 would be downgrading my experience because of ugly and bloated Touchwiz and a display with wrong, exaggerated colors. Ignoring the color comment (given that the GS4 passes display tests with flying colors), have you actually used the "ugly and bloated" Touchwiz, or are you just going on the purist talking points (as you clearly did with the AMOLED talking point)? I regularly use a GS3, Nexus 4, and Nexus 7 (having previously used the GS2, Galaxy Glide, Nexus One, HTC Dream and HTC Magic). Both the GS3 and GS2 offered better functionality long before Google got around to it (notification area quick controls, hardware-accelerated browser, etc), and I absolutely prefer the GS3 to the Nexus 4 from a pure software experience perspective. I haven't used the GS4, but given how hollow most of the pure experience prattle is I wouldn't be surprised if it's again ahead of the Google experience.
- moogleii 13y ago
  The GS3 screen was destroyed by the iPhone 5's from lab tests. Maybe he's going off that (which, wouldn't be fair to the GS4, but it's an explanation to his possible bias). To be fair, you are one of the few (actually the first for me personally) that I've seen that prefers Samsung's solution over Google's, though. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.
  - corresation 13y ago
    The original reason why "skins" earned criticism was that it was perceived as the cause of update delays, back when Samsung, SE and HTC tossed devices out and quickly forgot them. This took hold, and an anti-skin sentiment was entrenched, despite vendors like HTC and Samsung figuring out how to do updates in a much more timely manner. Since then the argument has seldom had much to do with rational evaluation (just as much of the praise for the terrible Chrome for Android is just some sort of default conclusion). People -- speaking specifically of the tech community, having nothing to do with general users -- just seem to assume that derivations from Google's pure experience = worse. Here's the paradox, however: with each iteration Google is stealing those features from the vendor skins, to great acclaim.
    - 13y ago
kalleboo 13y ago
Sony phones have a mostly-unmolested Android (and an officially unlockable bootloader), a 1080p LCD screen with decent colors (there's a "vibrant mode" that's a software toggle only), and the camera uses the exact same Sony sensor as Apple's phone but with a physical shutter button and more camera app settings. And the hardware on some of their phone is even waterproof.
- esolyt 13y ago
  The camera might be using the same sensor but the lens is worse and it takes worse shots. The display fall short in many aspects (brightness, contrast, viewing angles) according to gsmarena tests. It also looked washed out to me.
  - kalleboo 13y ago
    That's interesting, I have the iPhone 5 and I have a friend with a Sony, and the Sony takes way better shots at night - I'm always jealous of the results she gets.
nodata 13y ago
That's not fair. You can switch, you just have to decide between whether you want the better software, or (for you) the better hardware.
- esolyt 13y ago
  I don't want better hardware. I just want acceptable hardware without significant flaws and issues.
R_Edward 13y ago
Apple gets most things right in terms of hardware--eventually. It took them a while to come up with a user-facing camera for Skype calls, as well as high-speed data access. Personal preference is everything in the digital device market, so your criteria are perfectly valid, but not necessarily universally agreed-upon. I had to fall back on my iPhone 3GS for a couple weeks while my Android phone was at the doctor's, and I was surprised at how viable a device it still is, despite its advanced age, but I simply couldn't believe that the only way I could use it as a hotspot was to physically tether it via USB, or connect via Bluetooth ("And you really don't want to use Bluetooth for your hotspot if you want to pull any large-ish chunks of data down," the Apple Store genius told me.)
- ocean12 13y ago
  It's good to have options...and options are what the market is providing to us. I don't see how anyone who makes an open-minded choice can go wrong when selecting what best fits _them_.
CervezaPorFavor 13y ago
RE: TouchWiz UI - Did you know that you can use your own launcher and apply any theme you wish (legally; without even rooting the device). While I agree that it is not as polished as iOS, it can look great too. You can even make it look like iOS or Windows Phone with some effort. RE: Display - Just like normal TV set, you can select your preferred display mode on the S4. According to DisplayMate, the movie mode gives you the most accurate colours. Please read their detailed display shootout between the S4 and iPhone 5: http://www.displaymate.com/Galaxy_S4_ShootOut_1.htm http://www.displaymate.com/Galaxy_S4_ShootOut_1.htm RE: Battery Life - Are you kidding? From my experience, iPhone 5's battery life is shorter than that of many Android phones. RE: Call Quality - Wow. Really?
- runjake 13y ago
  RE: TouchWiz UI You're talking about just the launcher, but TouchWiz is so much more than that. It's a custom suite of apps that replace Android's vanilla apps. I'm talking about the Phone app, Calendar, Email, Messaging, Music, Camera (Although Samsung might have the superior here) and so on. A new launcher doesn't fix any of that. RE: Display I don't get why people are obsessing over this so much. The displays are roughly on par. If you really care about color calibration that much, stick with an iPhone? RE: Battery Life This wholly depends on your coverage area. In my area with great Verizon and AT&T LTE coverage, the iPhone 5 still bests any of the Android handsets I have tested here, including the HTC One, S3, Nexus 4, etc. The Note 2 and RAZR MAXX did hand the iPhone 5 its butt, though.
- esolyt 13y ago
  "iPhone 5's battery life is shorter than that of many Android phones" Usually it is. But I was just comparing it to Nexus 4 in that sentence (which happens to be the only Android phone that actually runs the latest and unmodified Android).
bjhoops1 13y ago
The hardware on the HTC One is impeccable! Hold one in your hand and tell me that it doesn't meet and surpass even Apple's design standards. I couldn't bring myself to even put mine in a case, it feels so amazing in the hand. My Apple-philiac family are considering switching after the next unimaginative iIteration comes out and fails to impress (again). >Switching to HTC One, would be downgrading my camera At worst, the iPhone vs One camera battle is a push. These things are somewhat subjective, but the HTC One's camera is far from a downgrade. http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2013/04/phone-camera-shootout-galaxy-s4-vs-htc-one-vs-iphone-5-vs-lumia-920/ http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2013/04/phone-camera-shootout-g...
- esolyt 13y ago
  Though I never had a chance to hold it, I dislike the fact that it is heavy and thick for modern smartphone standards. I also don't know about the display quality. For some reason, Displaymate never tests HTC devices.
  - bjhoops1 13y ago
    Personally, I like the weight. Between the weight and the all-aluminum, it feels very sturdy, unlike many or all other Android phones. I was coming from an old HTC Evo I'd had for 2.5 years, and that thing weighed a lot more, so to me it was really light! As for thickness, it technically is a bit on the thick side, but the back tapers towards the edges, which are quite thin. This curvature makes the phone feel much thinner than it is, and also makes it fit nicely in the hand. If you get a chance to hold one, I think you'll see what I mean and why I for one don't consider these elements to be drawbacks.

by esolyt 13y ago

niggler 13y ago

"Apple gets most things right in terms of hardware." Applies to Macs as well.

Shivetya 13y ago
just wish OS X and accompanying apps were as good as the hardware they run on. From random beach balling, spending months with bad unacknowledged WI-FI issues that magically fixed after a patch, to the ever changing ever aggravating iTunes, I keep thinking it might be better loading a different OS. Apple truly makes some impressive hardware, it seems the software side of the company has not received the same focus.
- mimiflynn 13y ago
  What OS are you considering? I've been running Ubuntu on my MBA for several months now and I find it to be faster and wonderful for most of my needs, but, not on par with the cleanliness of OS X. It works for me because I am willing to tinker with it and forgive things for not working at times (ex: having to point and click on 'suspend' since it would freeze in place if I close the lid or how my wifi has to be restarted every now and again), but, for the everyday 'normal' user, its not up to par just yet.

revelation 13y ago

Really? I thought we had established that pretty much all hardware nowadays is "good enough"? And that's why "software matters", DELL is private and "the personal computer is dead"?

jes5199 13y ago
That works for servers and desktops, but it turns out that when you have something in your actual hand, then things like construction quality and battery life are much more vivid.
moogleii 13y ago
Isn't that exactly what the article is saying?

corresation 13y ago

Switching to Galaxy S4 would be downgrading my experience because of ugly and bloated Touchwiz and a display with wrong, exaggerated colors. Ignoring the color comment (given that the GS4 passes display tests with flying colors), have you actually used the "ugly and bloated" Touchwiz, or are you just going on the purist talking points (as you clearly did with the AMOLED talking point)? I regularly use a GS3, Nexus 4, and Nexus 7 (having previously used the GS2, Galaxy Glide, Nexus One, HTC Dream and HTC Magic). Both the GS3 and GS2 offered better functionality long before Google got around to it (notification area quick controls, hardware-accelerated browser, etc), and I absolutely prefer the GS3 to the Nexus 4 from a pure software experience perspective. I haven't used the GS4, but given how hollow most of the pure experience prattle is I wouldn't be surprised if it's again ahead of the Google experience.

moogleii 13y ago
The GS3 screen was destroyed by the iPhone 5's from lab tests. Maybe he's going off that (which, wouldn't be fair to the GS4, but it's an explanation to his possible bias). To be fair, you are one of the few (actually the first for me personally) that I've seen that prefers Samsung's solution over Google's, though. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.
- corresation 13y ago
  The original reason why "skins" earned criticism was that it was perceived as the cause of update delays, back when Samsung, SE and HTC tossed devices out and quickly forgot them. This took hold, and an anti-skin sentiment was entrenched, despite vendors like HTC and Samsung figuring out how to do updates in a much more timely manner. Since then the argument has seldom had much to do with rational evaluation (just as much of the praise for the terrible Chrome for Android is just some sort of default conclusion). People -- speaking specifically of the tech community, having nothing to do with general users -- just seem to assume that derivations from Google's pure experience = worse. Here's the paradox, however: with each iteration Google is stealing those features from the vendor skins, to great acclaim.
  - 13y ago

kalleboo 13y ago

Sony phones have a mostly-unmolested Android (and an officially unlockable bootloader), a 1080p LCD screen with decent colors (there's a "vibrant mode" that's a software toggle only), and the camera uses the exact same Sony sensor as Apple's phone but with a physical shutter button and more camera app settings. And the hardware on some of their phone is even waterproof.

esolyt 13y ago
The camera might be using the same sensor but the lens is worse and it takes worse shots. The display fall short in many aspects (brightness, contrast, viewing angles) according to gsmarena tests. It also looked washed out to me.
- kalleboo 13y ago
  That's interesting, I have the iPhone 5 and I have a friend with a Sony, and the Sony takes way better shots at night - I'm always jealous of the results she gets.

nodata 13y ago

That's not fair. You can switch, you just have to decide between whether you want the better software, or (for you) the better hardware.

esolyt 13y ago
I don't want better hardware. I just want acceptable hardware without significant flaws and issues.

R_Edward 13y ago

Apple gets most things right in terms of hardware--eventually. It took them a while to come up with a user-facing camera for Skype calls, as well as high-speed data access. Personal preference is everything in the digital device market, so your criteria are perfectly valid, but not necessarily universally agreed-upon. I had to fall back on my iPhone 3GS for a couple weeks while my Android phone was at the doctor's, and I was surprised at how viable a device it still is, despite its advanced age, but I simply couldn't believe that the only way I could use it as a hotspot was to physically tether it via USB, or connect via Bluetooth ("And you really don't want to use Bluetooth for your hotspot if you want to pull any large-ish chunks of data down," the Apple Store genius told me.)

ocean12 13y ago
It's good to have options...and options are what the market is providing to us. I don't see how anyone who makes an open-minded choice can go wrong when selecting what best fits _them_.

CervezaPorFavor 13y ago

RE: TouchWiz UI - Did you know that you can use your own launcher and apply any theme you wish (legally; without even rooting the device). While I agree that it is not as polished as iOS, it can look great too. You can even make it look like iOS or Windows Phone with some effort. RE: Display - Just like normal TV set, you can select your preferred display mode on the S4. According to DisplayMate, the movie mode gives you the most accurate colours. Please read their detailed display shootout between the S4 and iPhone 5: http://www.displaymate.com/Galaxy_S4_ShootOut_1.htm http://www.displaymate.com/Galaxy_S4_ShootOut_1.htm RE: Battery Life - Are you kidding? From my experience, iPhone 5's battery life is shorter than that of many Android phones. RE: Call Quality - Wow. Really?

runjake 13y ago
RE: TouchWiz UI You're talking about just the launcher, but TouchWiz is so much more than that. It's a custom suite of apps that replace Android's vanilla apps. I'm talking about the Phone app, Calendar, Email, Messaging, Music, Camera (Although Samsung might have the superior here) and so on. A new launcher doesn't fix any of that. RE: Display I don't get why people are obsessing over this so much. The displays are roughly on par. If you really care about color calibration that much, stick with an iPhone? RE: Battery Life This wholly depends on your coverage area. In my area with great Verizon and AT&T LTE coverage, the iPhone 5 still bests any of the Android handsets I have tested here, including the HTC One, S3, Nexus 4, etc. The Note 2 and RAZR MAXX did hand the iPhone 5 its butt, though.
esolyt 13y ago
"iPhone 5's battery life is shorter than that of many Android phones" Usually it is. But I was just comparing it to Nexus 4 in that sentence (which happens to be the only Android phone that actually runs the latest and unmodified Android).

bjhoops1 13y ago

The hardware on the HTC One is impeccable! Hold one in your hand and tell me that it doesn't meet and surpass even Apple's design standards. I couldn't bring myself to even put mine in a case, it feels so amazing in the hand. My Apple-philiac family are considering switching after the next unimaginative iIteration comes out and fails to impress (again). >Switching to HTC One, would be downgrading my camera At worst, the iPhone vs One camera battle is a push. These things are somewhat subjective, but the HTC One's camera is far from a downgrade. http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2013/04/phone-camera-shootout-galaxy-s4-vs-htc-one-vs-iphone-5-vs-lumia-920/ http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2013/04/phone-camera-shootout-g...

esolyt 13y ago
Though I never had a chance to hold it, I dislike the fact that it is heavy and thick for modern smartphone standards. I also don't know about the display quality. For some reason, Displaymate never tests HTC devices.
- bjhoops1 13y ago
  Personally, I like the weight. Between the weight and the all-aluminum, it feels very sturdy, unlike many or all other Android phones. I was coming from an old HTC Evo I'd had for 2.5 years, and that thing weighed a lot more, so to me it was really light! As for thickness, it technically is a bit on the thick side, but the back tapers towards the edges, which are quite thin. This curvature makes the phone feel much thinner than it is, and also makes it fit nicely in the hand. If you get a chance to hold one, I think you'll see what I mean and why I for one don't consider these elements to be drawbacks.