Help me choose a phone please, iP5 or GS3

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Oldwolf

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I’m looking for my first smartphone and I guess for now am considering the iPhone5 or the Galaxy S3. I am already familiar with the Android o/s since my wife has had a DroidX for a while and I have an Android tablet.

I like the feel of the Android o/s, and the fact I can add memory and new batteries to the Samsung. The iPhone5 I think may have a little more stable o/s but of course restricts you from memory expansion and battery replacement.

All my friends that own iPhones rant and rave about them but I think that may be because they are cult members.
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I guess the app selection is pretty similar between the two of them, are the Apple apps more stable, or is the problem people trying to run free and untested Android apps? Seems like if you shop smartly for and Android app, you might have to pay a few $$ for it, but you may end up with more stable phone.

Both these phones cost about the same for a 2 year contract (Verizon).

Am I missing any other good phones that I should consider? Thanks!

PS-This phone will replace my LG Octane
 
If you like the Android experience, then I would stick with it. I personally did not and switched to an iPhone (4S). The OS updates from the phone vendors were hit-and-miss (very buggy with the Motorolas), but that's the fault of the vendors themselves, and not necessarily the phones.

My dad has a Samsung G3 and loves it. I have an iPhone and love it. They're both very good phones for different reasons.

Check them both out and decide which fits you better.
 
I had a Droid X. Decent enough phone but horrible OS. Then Motorola abandoned us with a POS OS that was very unstable. I always used "Approved" apps and the thing was sluggish and would reboot whenever it felt like it.

I vowed never to go down that route again. Android is like Windows - poor on most platforms since it must support them all.

The only thing you can not upgrade on the iPhone is the memory. Given that (IIRC - it was on the DX) the Android stuff is still fragmented - memory from the phone is separate from SD cards and the two shall not mix.

Other than that, Google iPhone battery replacement - when it dies for good it's pretty easy to replace. And it may last a long time. My previous iPhone 3G (bought on launch) was still running not too long ago when I sold it to a coworker.
 
Honestly I have always been an iPhone hater; no memory expansion, non user serviceable battery, no 4G LTE, too small of a screen and a charging/syncing port 10 years old that matches up to nothing else. That being said the iPhone 5 has me impressed at this point. It has finally caught up to the competition, their dual core processor is destroying the competitions quad cores and saving more battery while doing so, the battery life is outstanding even while on 4G LTE, the screen size is nearly perfect, and you can't beat apples build quality. I still currently have my HTC Thunderbolt, which is a great phone, after you root and flash a custom rom, radio and kernel. The iPhone will be good to go out of the box, and down the line when a jailbreak is available it will open up all possibilities of customization you could ever want.

I'd say go check both of them out, play around with it and get a feel for the size and form factor of each phone and decide from there. They are both great phones and the reason we have choices for different styles and brands is because everyone likes something different!
 
If you're already in the Google ecosystem, I'd probably stick with an Android phone. If you're particularly invested with iTunes, I'd go the Apple route.

Barring either of the above, I'd go to the wireless store and play with both phones.

Also, check out the prices on Amazon Wireless. At least in the case of AT&T, their prices are significantly better than the actual AT&T stores.
 
I second what Scorch said.

The iPhone 5 is a great device. Super smooth, very easy to handle (physically), and easily one of the most refined devices on the market.

The GS3 has a much greater range of capabilities with its larger screen and vastly greater customizability.

I went with a Nokia Lumia 920, myself. It's a Windows Phone 8 device. The interface is just as snappy and refined as the iPhone 5's, but much more streamlined; I find it much easier to use. The camera is WAY better. Battery life is roughly comparable. Nokia's music service is great, and the phone's onboard headphone amp sounds very good. Wireless charging is a cool feature. On the downside, the phone is pretty big, the app ecosystem is virtually nonexistent compared to Apple's and Android's, and the organizer functions are clunky (though I'm used to a Blackberry, and nothing comes close to that). All told, it might be worth a look.
 
I dont like apple's philosophy too dumb down , no room for customazation and they want you pay them for EVERYTHING.

I'd go with S3 , you have extra 64 gb of memory , you can customize, you can install apps that google done aproove ( not neccesary pirating!! ) you can mess with your phone to your liking.

i have it and its solid device, there is reason why its most sold phone globaly.
 
I have been an apple hater since the ipod. Though I got a 4S a few months ago and I love it. (my first smart phone)

If your already familiar with android, plus have other droid devices, I would probably stick with that.
 
I find the galaxy 3 just too darn large for practicality. It is not comfortable in a front pocket or in a shirt pocket. It just too large... And Im a big guy.

The iphone 5 is getting there too. It is a bit too long to be comfortable. There really was a good ergonomic reason for the dimensions of the iphone 4 and phones (apple or otherwise) like it.

Its a phone, not a tablet, size is the name of the game. So Im sticking with my iphone 4s personally, but if youre limiting it to those two, Id go with the iphone 5.

A non-replacable battery isnt a huge issue to me, because after replacing the screen on my old 3GS, I realized how simple much of this can actually be. Plus, the batteries just havent been an issue for me degradation of capacity wise (use wise can be another story and the ability to swap batteries could be nice in that regard, but then again, if Im lugging a spare battery, why wouldnt I just lug a charger for most uses?).

The non-expandable, add $100s more dollars to get 64 GB of storage on the Apple product is an annoyance, it would be nice to snap in a mini card in there and have bigger memory... But it doesnt do anything in terms of practicality... If the SG3 took SD or CF cards, it might be useful, but as it stands, I cant put the card from my cameras in there so its not a big issue to me. 16GB still holds a LOT of songs (I rip mine uncompressed), a good number of videos, or photos (I had a ton of music and about 4000 photos before I filled my 16GB phone).

And if youre buying subsidized from a carrier, the acquisition cost is the same, so there is no purchase price benefit that Ive seen.

So personally Id go with Apple, though there are lots of folks that just hate Apple so much that they will disagree... But that's my basis.
 
The GS3 is an awesome phone! I have an Iphone 4 and the GS3 is the only phone I've played with and used that I made me contemplate swtiching from an iphone.
 
iPhone vs. GS3, Ford vs. Chevy, Coke vs. Pepsi, McDonald's vs. Burger King...
 
BIL has a GS3 - heavily customized because u can do all that with it
Half of that doesn't WORK though - freezes VERY often, and reboots needed - horrible battery life too.

Our iphone 4s on the other hand - not so customizable - but SO SOLID and not a SINGLE freeze or reboot since we've owned them. for what we do with it, it's MORE than enough and we probably use only about 30% of its true potential.

Not a fan or anything - just what I observed.
 
I have a stock GS3 customized with the selections out of the box and it has been rock solid, never freezes and I can get 2 days out of a charge. Best phone I have ever had and that includes the 4S prior to it.
 
Didn't realize until today that Android o/s is Linux based and open sourced. Google has the the software development kit free online for download. Plus, Ubuntu can now run on Android multi-core platforms. Very interesting.

I think you have to be careful with the apps you download, by that I mean only using "approved" apps that are favored by Android(Google). That may stabilize the o/s. They are like PC's I guess. If you load crummy software you do have troubles.
 
Try both in the store (or borrow from a friend) and see which one you like better. A lot of that has to do with your preference and what you are used to (like stick shift vs automatic). If no pref you can buy iP5 to keep me employed
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iOS tends to be a bit more easy to use and iP5 is very light to carry, this of course is done without memory expansion and with smaller size.

GS3 is bigger and therefore can fit more features and components (and a bigger battery) at the cost of weight and size in your pocket.

Both now support LTE and therefore speed isn't really an issue. Both OS are designed and tuned for their chips so smoothness and speed should be good enough for both.
 
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Thanks PandaBear for your thoughtful advice.

Everyone, I read last night that The Motorola Droid Razr Maxx HD and the Droid Razr HD are also very highly recommended, at least by Consumer Reports.

Do any of you have one of these or do any of you have any further recommendations on these two Motorola's?
 
Just by looking at the spec, the Droid Razr Maxx HD seems to have a huge battery for the core count and review shows that it outlast Samsung Galaxy S3 by a lot.

Common understanding in the industry is that Motorola has been doing the best works in 3G for a long time, so they tends to have better reception, call quality, etc (probably only second to Nokia which isn't doing well in smart phone). However since all phones must be tested by carriers before they will sell it as subsidized phone they are all pretty good. The only exception is if you buy a foreign market only phone oversea and bring it to the US, you might experience drop call or bad reception because they didn't do all the testing in the US. One of my friend did that with a Nokia 2 years ago from oversea, and she has to literally throw it away because of the call quality.
 
Apple iOs is a stable OS. I have never had a lock up or really app error with the set of stuff I use.

Android dicey for stability but much more configurable. The apps are significantly on iOs better except for Google Maps/Navigation which is Android only. I cannot believe that the Apple version of maps is still garbage compared to my 3 year old HTC Incredible.

The Facebook application (if you use) is a sad joke for Android.
 
Funny, my wife bought a new Iphone 5 and I just got a S3, both last weekend.

I don't know what to tell you, but feel free to ask any questions you might have.
 
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