Why I might wait for the iPhone 5

[The Driver]

Minor upgrade? What more could they possibly have done?

Hardware upgrades: -

• Quad core processor (double the performance of the sgs2 with 30% less power used up)
• 65% improved graphics over sgs2
• Larger hd screen with improved power efficiency
• Brand new camera and flash
• Much larger battery
• Vastly improved storage capacity
• Wifi performance is twice as good
• NFC chip
• Wireless charging - an industry first

Software upgrades: -

• S-beam - capable of transmitting data at 300mbps, can send a photo gallery in about a second. Revolutionary feature.
• S-voice - what vlingo should have been.
• Eye tracking + other intuitive gestures.
• Has ics out of the box, will most likely get jelly bean
• Vastly improved camera software with burst mode, zero shutter lag, best photo selection and more.
• Automatically recognises your friends in pictures and tags them in all future pictures.
• Better in call quality and volume.
• More codec support.
• Popout video.

And some software features Samsung didn't announce: -

• Improved lock screen (you can create shortcuts to apps like you can on htc phones)
• More toggles in the notification bar.

The ceramic casing you wish for wouldn't work with the wireless charging. I for one am pleased that Samsung is creating useful features rather than trying to make the device look pretty. I look at the screen, not the design of the phone.

What did you expect exactly cause it looks like a big upgrade to me?

Most of those so called software improvements are just gimmicks.

S-Beam? What's wrong with Bluetooth? It's got a better range.

NFC - Really who wants to put their phone against a card reader to pay for something, phone stolen? Phone & Money gone!

Wireless charging? Who needs it, a micro USB is perfectly acceptable, another unnecessary gimmick.

ICS - That's rubbish, is knackered my SGS2, with freezes in addition to the Bluetooth problems its given me.

I will be looking very carefully at what the Iphone 5 will bring.

 

[Crafty]

S-Beam is faster than bluetooth.

NFC isn't just about payment systems

Wireless charging is the way everything is going.

I fully expect the iphone5 to have both NFC and wireless charging, which no doubt will be hailed as "revolutionary" because apple made it.

 

[xtop]

NFC - Really who wants to put their phone against a card reader to pay for something, phone stolen? Phone & Money gone!

ICS - That's rubbish, is knackered my SGS2, with freezes in addition to the Bluetooth problems its given me.

its just as fast as using a credit card. so it ends up being one less thing i have to carry. and if my credit card is stolen, anyone can use it. if my phone is stolen, they need my pin number to use the card. but in both cases, you'd call the credit card company, so who cares.

ics is rubbish? um. ok? if you say so

 

[The Driver]

its just as fast as using a credit card. so it ends up being one less thing i have to carry. and if my credit card is stolen, anyone can use it. if my phone is stolen, they need my pin number to use the card. but in both cases, you'd call the credit card company, so who cares.

ics is rubbish? um. ok? if you say so

You call the credit card company on what??

You've lost or had your phone stolen! By the time you've found a phone box or borrowed another phone or used a landline it could well be too late and they'll have access to your accounts.

NFC is a liability, even if you were to have something like LT's Oyster card or your train season ticket on it, you would be in trouble for fraudulent use, as it could be used by someone else.

 

[xtop]

You call the credit card company on what??

You've lost or had your phone stolen! By the time you've found a phone box or borrowed another phone or used a landline it could well be too late and they'll have access to your accounts.

NFC is a liability, even if you were to have something like LT's Oyster card or your train season ticket on it, you would be in trouble for fraudulent use, as it could be used by someone else.

you're not liable for any charges you don't make. phones are pretty popular, i don't think it'd take long for me to find one and call and cancel the card.

google wallet needs a pin code before using it. not sure what a lt oyster card is, but is a train ticket even something you can put on a phone and use nfc with?

i mean, i guess if you're that paranoid, don't use it. *shrug*

edit: oh, i guess i missed some posts. i see a mod went through here and probably deleted stuff? the paranoid thing is not meant to incite any negative feelings. lets just head that off now

 

[chrlswltrs]

Most of those so called software improvements are just gimmicks.

NFC - Really who wants to put their phone against a card reader to pay for something, phone stolen? Phone & Money gone!

Wireless charging? Who needs it, a micro USB is perfectly acceptable, another unnecessary gimmick.

ICS - That's rubbish, is knackered my SGS2, with freezes in addition to the Bluetooth problems its given me.

I will be looking very carefully at what the Iphone 5 will bring.

I want a wireless payment system so I don't have to carry my debit card.

Wireless charging would be nice for things like a coffee table or while driving. Not necessary, but nice to have

ICS is great. It is such a big upgrade, I could never go back. Samsung just needs to not screw it up

I look at the iPhone everytime a new one is released. They just haven't been able to beat Android in a few years, and I don't think they will ever catch up again. iSheep couldn't handle all the options we have with Android

 

[Roze]

I think waay too much is being made of this pentile vs non pentile screen thing.

If you do a lot of reading on your phone either on websites, ebooks or takes notes on a white screen with black wording, you will see the full scale of the pentile matrix at work. The letters are noticeably fuzzy around the edge.

All I'm saying is... unless Samsung plans to come up with a better "2nd Gen" smartphone soon, they could have gone ALL OUT with S3.

You'll never end up getting a phone if you keep on waiting for a couple more months for the 'best next thing'...caused by then there will be rumours of the next best thing. If you're getting now, get the best that's today.

 

[rmcf]

I think the s3 is a fantastic device. Miles ahead of my current Droid X in any case. But i too will likely wait for the next iPhone as that phone has a better chance of supporting CDMA/GSM. Being a frequent traveler, the small things matter...

 

[Crafty]

You call the credit card company on what??

You've lost or had your phone stolen! By the time you've found a phone box or borrowed another phone or used a landline it could well be too late and they'll have access to your accounts.

NFC is a liability, even if you were to have something like LT's Oyster card or your train season ticket on it, you would be in trouble for fraudulent use, as it could be used by someone else.

A credit card can be used instantly (especially online etc). If the phone was locked, only accessible via a PIN or even just a swipe lock how are they going to use the NFC and/or gain access to your accounts ? They aren't.

Why would you be in trouble for using your phone that has your oyster card credit on ?
The scenario that you describe is already possible if you give someone else your oyster card.

IIRC London underground do lots of data engineering to spot people who are abusing the system by looking for patterns etc. One of the favourite tricks is to swipe the card and then reach over and swipe it again to go "out" at the same station - no charge for this because you didn't go anywhere, but you can now ride the trains for free, at the other end to repeat the trick (swipe in at that station and then out again).
They will spot this in data and will catch you sooner or later.

Anyway, this is getting away from the S3 - NFC is not proprietary to Samsung and will be on pretty much every phone in 12 months time.

 

[Android26]

If you do a lot of reading on your phone either on websites, ebooks or takes notes on a white screen with black wording, you will see the full scale of the pentile matrix at work. The letters are noticeably fuzzy around the edge.

Would you honestly trade in the questionably "fuzzy" pentile screen for poor battery efficiency though?

There are two demons Samsung has to try and fight with such a big display and I think they made the right move in trying to please the battery complainers more than the pentile haters. They even tried to meet the pentile haters halfway by making the screen HD.

I agree with the poster that you're arguing with and will too say that way too much nitpicking is surrounding the pentile vs non-pentile discussion.

 

[Roze]

Would you honestly trade in the questionably "fuzzy" pentile screen for poor battery efficiency though?

There are two demons Samsung has to try and fight with such a big display and I think they made the right move in trying to please the battery complainers more than the pentile haters. They even tried to meet the pentile haters halfway by making the screen HD.

I agree with the poster that you're arguing with and will too say that way too much nitpicking is surrounding the pentile vs non-pentile discussion.

I understand the benefit of a pentile matrix screen, especially for an AMOLED display. That being said, it's still annoying as hell reading on your phone when the words aren't crisp and clear.

I am not as sensitive as other people with the pentile matrix effect. I have learned to ignore the fuzzy lettering and not let it trouble me. I have the Nexus One and Atrix, both have the pentile matrix. I'm kind of pissed with the Atrix because it's an qHD LCD screen

I was simply pointing out to the poster where the pentile matrix can be clearly seen. In pictures and nothing black on a white backgroud, everything is perfect.

 

[davoid]

Pentile is a lot more battery efficient.

I haven't heard this before. How is pentile a lot more battery efficient than an RGB AMOLED display?

 

[matttye]

Most of those so called software improvements are just gimmicks.

S-Beam? What's wrong with Bluetooth? It's got a better range.

It's about 1,000 times slower.

NFC - Really who wants to put their phone against a card reader to pay for something, phone stolen? Phone & Money gone!

Me. Google Wallet is PIN protected, so if your phone is stolen they'd have to know your PIN. It's not really different to having a card stolen, other than the fact that your phone is also gone, which is kind of a bummer

Wireless charging? Who needs it, a micro USB is perfectly acceptable, another unnecessary gimmick.

Nobody NEEDS it, it's just more convenient. Nobody needs half of the things that smartphones implement these days. Dumb phones worked perfectly well.

ICS - That's rubbish, is knackered my SGS2, with freezes in addition to the Bluetooth problems its given me.

That's on your SGS2, not the SGS3.

You call the credit card company on what??

You've lost or had your phone stolen! By the time you've found a phone box or borrowed another phone or used a landline it could well be too late and they'll have access to your accounts.

NFC is a liability, even if you were to have something like LT's Oyster card or your train season ticket on it, you would be in trouble for fraudulent use, as it could be used by someone else.

I don't know where you live, but if I had my phone stolen I think almost any one of the stores I use would let me use a phone to report it to the police.

 

[matttye]

I haven't heard this before. How is pentile a lot more battery efficient than an RGB AMOLED display?

Because there's only two subpixels per pixel instead of three.

 

[JunBringer]

ICS is great. It is such a big upgrade, I could never go back. Samsung just needs to not screw it up

iSheep couldn't handle all the options we have with Android

Agreed.

Yeah I think that's what turns some people off to Android is that they can't make up their mind and just get whatever BS Droid phone they see that's cheap. The Droid X has done more for iOS than it has for Android having been so buggy.

 

[davoid]

Because there's only two subpixels per pixel instead of three.

I thought there were four - RGBG

You wouldn't be able to create white light with only two colour subpixels, surely.

Ah, I think I get it. You need two adjacent pixels to make white (= four subpixels), so you can't have a single pixel precision?

 

[matttye]

I thought there were four - RGBG

You wouldn't be able to create white light with only two colour subpixels, surely.

Ah, I think I get it. You need two adjacent pixels to make white (= four subpixels), so you can't have a single pixel precision?

Pretty sure it's an RGBW display.

 

[Scootmien]

Would you honestly trade in the questionably "fuzzy" pentile screen for poor battery efficiency though?

There are two demons Samsung has to try and fight with such a big display and I think they made the right move in trying to please the battery complainers more than the pentile haters. They even tried to meet the pentile haters halfway by making the screen HD.

I agree with the poster that you're arguing with and will too say that way too much nitpicking is surrounding the pentile vs non-pentile discussion.

I'm intriqued to see what the battery life will be on the SGS3 compared to my current SGS2. Bigger screen but apparently more power efficiency might even the score out somewhat.

I'm going to run both phones back to back for a while and see how they compare. I wonder how different the battery size/shape in the S3 will be compared to the S2.

 

[Mr. Ed]

I am only going to touch on the pentile decision right now...i will revisit this thread later for the rest

Super Amoled has had some issues...seen on the note and skyrocket by myself and others

There are pretty severe banding issues as we as what is referred to as "black crush"

Most do not realize the issues are there but they are. the grey to black gradient is way off causing sone images and video to look plain awful. the jury is still kut on whether these issues are software or related to the screen itself

Pentile could actually be an improvement....we will see when it releases

 

[Sandroidfan]

Pretty sure it's an RGBW display.

No, it's RGBG pentile on AMOLED screen. RGBW pentile is only on LCD screen. It's explained in that Wiki link you put.

 

[Droid.Incredible]

I'm going to wait to hear about the iPhone 5 and the HTC 5 inch model before making a decision.

 

[spanktastik]

Before anything else, I'm no Apple fanboy. I actually have both Apple and Samsung devices, I like both, and I consider myself "neutral" in the iOS vs Android debate. Having said that, is anyone else thinking of waiting until the next iPhone specs and design are officially revealed?

Here are some reasons I'm thinking of doing just that:

1. S3 Pentile display: I know Samsung could have given the S3 a Super AMOLED Plus display, but they didn't. It bugs me why.

2. Plastic case: Another of those "they could have, but didn't" scenarios. The S3 doesn't look bad, but doesn't the S3 deserve something better than plastic?

3. Minor upgrade: It's probably just me but I feel that Samsung pulled an Apple iPhone 4 to iPhone 4S style. Sure, eye tracking and the other fancy features mentioned are cool, but I could care less about them because what matters to me more are the display, processor, and design (yep, still can't get over the fact that the S3 is plastic!).

4. Between now and the official announcement of the iPhone 5 (or whatever they'll call it), it may be possible for a "2nd gen" Galaxy S3 to be released that will possibly have the rumored specs that didn't make it into this 1st gen Galaxy S3. I'd kick myself if I bought the S3 now and find out 6 months later that a 2nd gen version is released sporting a 1.8 GHz processor, 2 GB RAM, non-pentile display, and the ceramic casing that everyone was expecting.

Of course, all these are speculation, but if I were Samsung it would make perfect sense to release the 1st Gen S3 now because I know this highly anticipated device would be a best seller, then release a 2nd Gen S3 with the better stats posted above to compete with the iPhone 5.

Or I could just let my impatience win and buy the 1st Gen S3 now anyway.

1. Not economical to produce it as of yet???? Producers have to make a tradeoff between size and quality given the current producing capabilities. Also I doubt you will notice it that much tbh. But I as well expected a more impressive screen.

2. I'm glad they are using plastic.

3. The Iphone 4s inside had major improvements, I fail to see you're point. The S3 as well with quadcore, improved cpu, more pixels per inch and larger screen made improvements. The point is, all this raw power, you are probably not gonna NOTICE IT in terms of USER EXPERIENCE. Which is why I dont understand the nitpicking on not having 2 ghz and not having 2 GB RAM. I will further elaborate:

- This phone is tipping the benchmarks so far, with amazing leaps in processing speeds. You say: NO IMPROVEMENTS
- The Iphone4s has a GPU which is seven times faster! Not impressive for you....
- THE LG: 2 GB RAM instead of 1 GB RAM: OMG major improvement!!!!


4. This is inherent to the industry.... However you are probably not gonna notice those specs.....

 

[davoid]

more pixels per inch and larger screen made improvements.

If the screen is larger, and has the same resolution (720p) then it has fewer pixels per inch, not more. The same number of pixels/larger number of inches = a smaller number.

Those pixels are spread out over a larger area, which means they are either bigger pixels, or the gap between pixels is bigger.

Not an improvement.

 

[Baldilocks]

If the screen is larger, and has the same resolution (720p) then it has fewer pixels per inch, not more. The same number of pixels/larger number of inches = a smaller number.

Those pixels are spread out over a larger area, which means they are either bigger pixels, or the gap between pixels is bigger.

Not an improvement.

Umm. You do know that the GS II does not have a 720p screen. So yes, the GS III is a big improvement.

 

[davoid]

Umm. You do know that the GS II does not have a 720p screen. So yes, the GS III is a big improvement.

Oh, I didn't realize he was talking about the GS II. It's not very explicitly stated (at all, in fact). For some reason I was comparing with the GNexus. In which case it isn't an improvement. My bad.