Talk me out of getting an iPhone :)

[s23ayers]

I have been using a Galaxy S2 (Sprint) for the past two years. I have enjoyed almost everything about it and I like the Android philosophy. But a few major problems have me considering an iPhone. I'd prefer to stay with Android, but not if these same problems continue. The rest of my family have iPhones and they never complain about the phone itself.

• Occasional unresponsiveness opening an app or typing on the keyboard
• Delay between pressing the camera button and actually taking the picture
• Data stream dropping when switching between 3G and 4G
• Antenna not as strong as my iPhone 4s/5c/5s family member's
• Power button issues (replaced phone once, need to again)

I will not be spending the $ to get the latest phone, but I really need a new phone. I'm looking at phones with a contract upgrade price under 50 (Galaxy S4, iPhone 5C, etc.)

Hopefully I can avoid these problems and stick with Android.

Thanks for sharing your ideas and/or experiences.

Steve

 

[lunatic59]

I had the S2 on AT&T and when I went to the Nexus4 the difference was night and day. My wife has an S3 and my son has an S4 and neither one sees any of those issues.

The S2 was a decent phone at the time, but that was almost 4 years ago. In phone terms that's neolithic.

 

[mikedt]

I think if you're replacing an almost four year old Samsung S2 with a new flagship one, e.g. S4, S5 or Note 4, you should avoid all those problems. However flagship Samsungs can be pricey, but then so are iPhones.

 

[Maxwell Powers]

Buy an iphone use for a little while and that in its self should sell you on another Android device.

 

[kate]

• Antenna not as strong as my iPhone 4s/5c/5s family member's

Motorola phones are known for having good antennas. Look into the Moto X 2013 model, should be cheap with a contract discount.

 

[bg1287]

I had a Galaxy S2 and it was honestly the worst phone I've ever had. I only had it for about 2 months before I resold it.

I was gonna say you should pick up an S5 but you don't wanna spend much, so... Try an S3 or S4 maybe?

 

[nickdalzell]

The only redeeming thing the Galaxy S2 ever had was the Super AMOLED HD Plus+ display. ever since they have used the largely inferior Pentile matrix in their AMOLEDs.

But as for talking anyone out of using an iPhone, i cannot. in fact, i have two smartphones i use daily--an LG G3 (which blows Samsung out of the water IMO) and an iPhone 5S (for mostly communicative purposes--iOS 8 is still a hideous train wreck)

I will say though that if you're comparing the S2 to an iPhone the iPhone would win on all grounds. the S2 is very obsolete--in fact, that's the issue i still have with Android phones, not so much the OS, but the fact that new models are released so fast that your old device just ends up feeling rather useless in the long run. i can't hold onto one phone for more than a few months before i upgrade. an Apple iPhone hardly changes with each generation making their product lifecycles much longer--reducing the chance of upgrading before your two year contract is up.

Compare a current Android flagship phone (yes, flagship, not some crap Net10 or Straight Talk handset still in Gingerbread 2.3) to an iPhone and the iPhone is inferior. Android is better looking (yay, Material Design) and has far more features, and the battery is finally besting the Apple iPhone (my G3 beats my 5S battery on all counts) and both OSs are pretty fluid and stable. i only get one crash on Android and that's only when i reboot my phone (i don't have to as in the past, just when it downloads a system update or powers down if i let the battery die) and it is some odd Verizon service called VZWAV or something. it doesn't mess anything up and i don't see it after.

The only thing i notice with the 5S is that it tends to pick up LTE where my G3 either defaults to 3G or 1x. (neither 3G or 1x seem to connect to anything--Play Store and other apps simply time out or report no internet connection)

 

[dan330]

I think if you want to try the iPhone.. you should!
then you can compare.. the latest iPhone with a 4 yr old android.

but if you are happy .. then great!
if you hate it.. then at least you know... and get that out of your system.

 

[nickdalzell]

I like both. there are things that my iPhone has that Android doesn't, and vice versa. my 5S does great at phone calls while my G3 does everything else well. quite honestly the G3 is the better of the two.

 

[Masedroid]

I used iPhones or rather apple products for years. But since the Samsung S III I am totally away from this fever. I really do not miss the annoying iTunes media library and the automatically tries of my products to connect with each other and load up my pictures without my will.

 

[Slug]

I'm looking at phones with a contract upgrade price under 50 (Galaxy S4, iPhone 5C, etc.)

S4 wins over 5C (imho) due to the larger display and expandable storage. Not that the 5C is a bad product, but the S4 is more flexible to the user's needs.

 

[w7ox]

I won't because my phone is an iPhone 5S. For me the problem is that Apple's new iPhones are limited to the 5C, the 6 and the 6 Plus. My grandson's 6 Plus is just too large for me, and the 5C is a step down from the 5S I have had for a year. Eventually I'll have to replace the 5S and if my only choice is go go larger with iOS, an Android phone may be in my future. So I recently bought a Galaxy Tab 4 8.0 to use some ham radio apps not available for iOS and to learn Android's ins and outs. So far I really like the Tab 4 -- even tho it's wifi only vs. my iPad which has 4G/LTE capability with Verizon.

 

[s23ayers]

Thanks for all the great replies! You're confirming my suspicion that my problems were more related to the S2 in particular and not to Android phones in general.

Thanks again!

 

[ocnbrze]

Thanks for all the great replies! You're confirming my suspicion that my problems were more related to the S2 in particular and not to Android phones in general.

Thanks again!

to be honest, the best thing to do is to go in and play with the demo devices and see which one you really like.

i like big screens so the galaxy note phones are my favorite. i have a note 3 and it is perfect and i see no reason to upgrade just yet to the note 4. i gonna wait for the next big thing next year when contract is up.

 

[hawkeyefxr]

Another reason for steering clear of an iphone........their pc software is crap it's like a battleship and not easy to use. I have had both and will stay with android for any device that uses it.