iPhone user goes to the Samsung Galaxy S3 (1 Viewer)

[DavidJ]

David,
Did you purchase an S3 with the intent of trying it
until the release of the iPhone 5?
If you don't mind the $35 restock fee I think it's the
best way to determine which phone better suits your
needs.

No, I haven't, but I will think about it.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Interesting read comparing Galaxy and iPhone

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Been on vacation all week, and earlier this morning I sent
an email to a co-worker of mine that also switched from the
iPhone to the Galaxy S3.

Thought I would share it with you to give you an idea of where
I stand with this phone right now...




Quote:

Have spent a lot of time this week with the Galaxy S3.

I suppose, the worst thing you could say about this phone is that battery life is atrocious.

However, that's really the only bad thing I can say.

I really *LOVE* this phone --- so much so that I am praying that Apple doesn't exceed my expectations on Wednesday.

(I still have not bought any accessories, waiting for Apple's announcement).

I have been on many Android forums throughout the week, watching YouTube videos and Googling everything I can about this phone.

Have downloaded all kinds of apps that bring cool notification banners to the screen, or assign specific sounds to different apps so when the phone is in your pocket, you know exactly what kind of alert is arriving.

The customization on this phone is through the roof. I have never had so much fun playing with a phone. Could never say that about the iPhone.

I installed a 64GB microSD card yesterday, but part of me thinks that may have been a waste of money. You can't transfer apps to the micro card. I am not a person that keeps a lot of pictures or videos on the phone. On the other hand, the space is there should I ever need it.

My plan to deal with the battery is this....

I am going to buy a backup battery and charger for it. If need be, I will just switch out batteries when needed.

There is a company that makes a larger battery that REALLY extends the life (people say it does wonders to battery life). The problem is, it's a little bulky and comes with its own back cover (white) that adds bulk to the phone. For me, I don't want to get a bulkier back cover.

So, that's about it. This is an incredible phone and I suppose that I am going to have to deal with the battery issue.

Ron

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

IMHO, poor battery life is a fail though, especially if you intend to use this thing regularly *and* still need it for phone calls. I guess you can carry an extra battery all the time, but still...

I think any mobile device should last at least 2 full days of normal usage on a single full charge, especially when it's brand new. And I'd say it should probably be more like 2x that for something that doesn't allow easily replaceable batteries.

_Man_

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Man,

I agree with you 100%

The battery life is the only shorcoming of this phone, but there are
many Android users on the boards saying that this is normal when
taking into account that you are dealing with a much larger screen
and processing power.

I don't mind buying an extra battery and swapping it out if need be.

The positives of this phone greatly outweigh the negatives.

 

[Hanson]

The battery life problem is a two pronged issue. The obvious one is that the processing, screen, and 4G radios all cause much more battery drain than you get on, say, on a Blackberry. But stack the two devices up -- the Blackberry is practically a feature phone in comparison to the S3, and as the saying goes, "you get what you pay for". In this case, the cost is rapid battery drain.

But the battery issue is compounded by the fact that the S3 is so capable of so many things that you will tend to use it more. Much more. If you used the S3 like a Blackberry, just for texting, a few calls, and checking your emails, you could get a full days use. If you disabled the 4G radio, you might hit 2. But if that's all you do with it, why did you bother? When you couple an inherently high drain device with increased use, you're looking at a total battery hog.

I also think there something inherently and grossly inefficient with the way Android handles cellular standby. I had an Evo that couldn't last the day even if it were sitting idle. Most of the battery was sucked up by the cell phone standby process. When I upgraded the the S2, I turned the Evo into a wifi only PDA. The result? It could last 4 days on one charge, and that's with wifi on the entire time.

Note that your use case will determine how much battery you use. If you don't have a lot of apps that background sync and don't have EAS or frequent email polling times, you can get a day or even a day and a half out of the S3.

I used to get a full city work day out of my Palm and WinMo devices back in the day. When I got the Evo, I was at 50% by the time I hit the office. But I adapted. I got a spare battery and acclimated myself to bump charging. The trade-off was such that it was worth it.

The spare battery really makes it workable. I would never get a phone with a sealed battery. My wife used to get jealous when she drained her iPod Touch and had to wait until it charged. I would drain my Evo in half the time, but other than the interruption in rebooting, I just kept going throughout the day since by the time one battery was drained, there was a fully charged on waiting for me.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Do they sell inexpensive, separate, very portable chargers for the batteries? That might help some as well (so you can always plug it in for recharge wherever you happen to stay for a couple hours or so).

Yeah, I heard that Android's cellular standby process is a bit of a battery hog (at least pre-Honeycomb), but thought they might've fixed that by now. That was apparently a real issue for B&N's original NookColor where the process was left running despite the lack of cellular capability -- not sure if that got "fixed" when they pushed out the last OS update w/ the launch of NC2 earlier this year...

I do use my BB Tour to do some bit of web browsing, but not a whole lot, and a fully charged, brand new battery would last me ~2 full days. But I don't actually make many phone calls though -- maybe just a couple short ones each day on most days (and then, there occasions when my mother calls me and runs my battery way down on just one call, LOL).

Anyway, I think manufacturers really need to figure out how to get more reasonable battery life for these devices. Personally, I'd much rather have a moderately heavier, thicker phone (that actually feels good in the hand) w/ great battery life (due to larger battery) than the super thin-and-light gimmickry, but maybe that's just me...

_Man_

 

[Sam Posten]

Why not just get a mophie?

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Mophie adds too much bulk, but it is something to consider for some.

 

[Hanson]

Do they sell inexpensive, separate, very portable chargers for the batteries?  That might help some as well (so you can always plug it in for recharge wherever you happen to stay for a couple hours or so).

They make them, but a spare battery is even more portable and you don't need a dongle hanging off your phone to use it. And why bother with a bulky Mophie when a spare battery accomplishes the same purpose?

 

[Sam Posten]

Because it also protects the device more than a battery alone would and you always have it withyou and know where it is?

 

[Hanson]

It's in my pocket isn't good enough?
If you're going to go the bulky route, then you might as well get the extended battery and modified cover. Well, not "you" per se.

 

[DaveF]

http://5by5.tv/ia/41
Latest episode of Ihnatko Almanac has Andy giving an interesting and detailed explanation of why the S3 is nearly a replacement of the iPhone for him. He finds that he misses the big screen and the NFC features now that he's back to his iPhone.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I'm telling you -- the GS3 is a worthy opponent to the iPhone.

As I keep saying, I am praying that nothing revolutionary is
announced on Wednesday than what we have seen already.
I don't want to give up this phone. I really love it.

 

[Hanson]

I listened to the entire podcast, and it sounded like the only thing holding Ihnatko back from moving to the S3 was the iPhone's integration with iCloud Docs.
Ihnatko also countered many of the arguments against switching -- the screen is gloriously large, but not too large because of the increased utility. The Play Store may not have the sheer number of apps the App Store has, but everything he needed was there, and he was never left wanting for apps. And the toggles and widgets Android has were very helpful and not simply battery sucking parlor tricks. For instance, the ability to pull down the shade and toggle on wifi was a welcome departure from having to dig into the General Settings menu every time. He also liked the home screen shortcut concept over the primitive springboard launcher on the iPhone.
Most of what Ihnatko said is in his Galaxy S3 review:
http://www.suntimes.com/technology/ihnatko/13607850-452/android-takes-great-strides.html

In 2012, scientists at CERN found the Higgs boson and I found an Android phone that’s good enough that I there’s a good chance I’ll ditch my iPhone in favor of it. I don’t know which outcome seemed less likely. Stephen Hawking wagered a colleague $100 against the former. A year ago, I would have bet a thousand bucks against the latter.
I guess Hawking and I both turn into dopes when we gamble.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Hanson,

Thanks for giving a capsulized overview of that podcast. I just don't
have time to listen to the entire thing.

Going to go read his review now with much enthusiasm.

 

[TonyD]

I had a chance to look at the gs3 at costco yesterday.
Really liked the feel of the phone. There is a very high chance we will be go g over to the galaxy next week.
Btw I have that same type of drop down on my iphone but got it through a jailbreak app.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Tony,

I have become very active on the Android forums lately.

I even posted tutorials over there for people coming from
the iPhone over to the Android system. I think I will just
transport those posts over to our Mobile Phone area.

Personally, I think you are making the right decision.
Just be aware that you may be looking for a backup battery
at some point if you find you are not getting the desired
battery life. It all pends on how much data-hogging apps
you have installed.

Today, I just talked Steve Simon, a former Moderator
of this forum, into switching over to the Galaxy S3. It
was kind of easy as he said he was completely bored
with iOS and loved all the tweaking that could be done.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Tony,

I put this together....Just in case

 

[DaveF]

I listened to the entire podcast, and it sounded like the only thing holding Ihnatko back from moving to the S3 was the iPhone's integration with iCloud Docs.
Ihnatko also countered many of the arguments against switching -- the screen is gloriously large, but not too large because of the increased utility. The Play Store may not have the sheer number of apps the App Store has, but everything he needed was there, and he was never left wanting for apps. And the toggles and widgets Android has were very helpful and not simply battery sucking parlor tricks. For instance, the ability to pull down the shade and toggle on wifi was a welcome departure from having to dig into the General Settings menu every time. He also liked the home screen shortcut concept over the primitive springboard launcher on the iPhone.
Most of what Ihnatko said is in his Galaxy S3 review:
http://www.suntimes.com/technology/ihnatko/13607850-452/android-takes-great-strides.html

I don't understand why people -including Ihnatko -are toggling 3G and wifi and Bluetooth and GPS on and off in various permutations? Doesn't the Android system just handle it and keep the phone from killing itself searching for signals? Maybe it's a road warrior thing. I don't experience this as a problem needing to be solved with tweak ability.