iphone4 vs Samsung s2 – sorry !!

Apologies for yet another phone question in amongst the flurry of current stuff but….

I’ve narrowed it down to these two and price/plans are identical. Problem is that I had almost made my mind up on the iphone until I saw a side by side comparison. The S2 download speed appeared to be much quicker and I really like the swipe text and voice activation features.

I prefer the look and size of the iphone + it’s probably more user friendly for an numpty like me, and well, it’s an iphone, so would I be right in thinking it will hold its value better? 🙄

Any negatives on either which I should be aware of?

Just be aware android users will tear down the iphone while iphone users will reccomend either.

iphone users also have more sex
http://mashable.com/2010/08/10/iphone-sex-okcupid/

I guy at work was waiting for the new iPhone but decided to go for the samsung.
He is more than happy with it.
Says the voice thingy is awesome.
I’m getting the new iPhone though, dunno why, brand loyalty? Familiarity?

Says the voice thingy is awesome.

It does look the business and along with swipe text (which I think is genius) it would overcome the problem of my sausage fingers!

Just be aware android users will tear down the iphone while iphone users will reccomend either.

Not strictly true, I know a couple of iPhone owners who’ve “seen the light” and no longer dribble on about it. I have neither, I’m a technological anchient.

Don’t know what the text swipe thing is, I just turn my phone on it’s side for texting so the keys are biggerer, and let the spellcheck sort out most of my errors. An iPhone has voice command, don’t know how it differs from Android. I do know Siri on the 4S is way more sophisticated than anything else out there; it understands colloquial speech and learns as you go. That’s why Apple were smart and bought the company. TBH, I’ve never, ever used any voice commands, never seen a need, but Siri has me actually wanting to buy a sim-free 4S and flogging my 4. (I can’t upgrade ’till next June).

Galaxy s all the way. It can be hacked and played with if you like your nerdy stuff. You can buy spare batteries and swap them with no faff at all, ideal for camping and festivals. Best of all you don’t have to use iTunes, just good old drag and drop. I like the iPhone but the battery thing and iTunes puts me off. That and the price.

Wife has the Galaxy S and it’s ok pretty good, mind it’s a blatant iPhone rip off. Not sure what the S2 offers over it as never looked. I use currently a 3GS and I prefer the iPhone. However both are very good, either way you’ll find a smart phone a very handy gadget.

I based my unthinking iphone order on owning a bunch of itunes bought music; liking itunes; having little idea how to strip out the drm without a faff (or even knowing if you have to to put it on an android); The memory map app (coming to android soon?); owning a macbook pro of late and liking the thought of icloud to keep them all playing together nicely; and general sheep like tendencies.

Life’s too short to worry too much about such stuff, whichever one you go for will be good and so much more capable than anything we could have dreamed of having in our pockets 10 years ago. Make a gut reaction and use the procrastination time saved to ride your bike. It’s just a phone (kind of)!

Just be aware android users will tear down the iphone while iphone users will reccomend either.

IME it’s usually the other way round.

iPhone is slightly ahead in overall slickness, has a few more apps (though the difference is minimal and falling daily), and has more accessories available, but it won’t do flash and you have iTunes to contend with. If you can live with those two limitations (and I’m not sure that I could), get the iPhone.

Either way you won’t be disappointed.

you have iTunes to contend with.

Not any more.

whats the problem with itunes?…..not used it much other than to rent films so it would be good to find out.

The problem with iTunes is, some people don’t like it. Those that don’t like to shout about the fact they don’t like it.

fair enough…does anyone know of any other sites that i could download music/films from, for android phones?

the reason i ask is, The wife has a desire s that i just drag and drop albums too(once ripped from the cd’s) whilst i can upgrade from my nokia 5800 anytime but cant decide whether i want the iphone/htc sensation xe/samsung galaxy note(whenever it comes out).

Amazon.

Cheers for all the input. Seems that there really aren’t that many negatives for either.

Life’s too short to worry too much about such stuff

You know what, you’re right. Problem is….I still can’t make up my bloody mind.

One thing this has taught me is the power of Apple’s marketing. My head says says the S2 has features that will be very handy for me which the iphone doesn’t, the screen looks slightly brighter/sharper and it’s quicker……..and yet……..

the screen looks slightly brighter/sharper

You’ve probably just seen them in the shops with the brightness turned way up to catch your eye (like they do with tellys). In reality if you run your screen that bright your eyes will hurt and your battery will last half an hour 😀

The iPhone screen is considerably higher resolution. It is 640×960 whereas the S2 is only 480×800 (i.e. 62% of the size, or 230 thousand fewer pixels).

However the S2 screen is physically bigger, so if you have bad eyesight or big monkey fingers then you might find it easier.

The iPhone screen is considerably higher resolution. It is 640×960 whereas the S2 is only 480×800 (i.e. 62% of the size, or 230 thousand fewer pixels).

Is that going to make a difference in the real world though?

Is that going to make a difference in the real world though?

Well it means you can fit more of a web page on the screen at once, that images and games are more detailed, and that text in books/PDFs etc is a lot smoother and easier to read (the iPhone is actually higher res than most print!)

BUT.. some are swung by the extra inch of the S2. Up to the OP what his priorities are. Just trying to offer some balance.

The misunderstood question is this:

When you have bought enough media (music/apps/vids) to lock you into the platform. Do you want to have 1 supplier (Apple) or many?

Many people do not understand the meaning reason for openness. It’s about being able to decide what you what to do.

2 of my borthers and my sister have all got various iterations of the Galaxy and they love it.

My wife, younger brother and I all have iPhones and we love them.

Basically it comes down to a question how much you want to spend on a phone. The whole Apple vs. Android debate is much like the ‘ do helmets work’ and are ‘fixie riders hipster idiots’ threads.

On the matter of resale, when I got my iPhone 4 I sold my 3 on ebay and got 175 for it.

Do you want to have 1 supplier (Apple) or many?

Well, no. It’s having one sales channel, and many suppliers which is vastly different.
A bit like buying stuff from a department store, where it has some sort of quality guarantee, in theory, against buying from the local market, where anyone can set up a stall irrespective of whether they’re selling tat or treasure. 😆

True that.

Conversely, do you want to buy into a whole ecosystem where the music/apps/videos you buy can also be used on your tablet, on your wife’s phone, on your computer, on your TV without fiddling with anything technical.

Likewise, would you rather buy apps from multiple random sources and install them with no real idea if they contain viruses, malware or other nasties; or would you rather there was a single source with over half a million apps that have all been vetted by the manufacturer?

(or, What vinneyh said)

codebauer – Member
The misunderstood question is this:

When you have bought enough media (music/apps/vids) to lock you into the platform. Do you want to have 1 supplier (Apple) or many?

Many people do not understand the meaning reason for openness. It’s about being able to decide what you what to do.

It’s not a question about many suppliers, its about using iTunes.

I buy music from many suppliers and have it all on my phone as for video all you need to do is convert it to .mp4 and it will load into iTunes and then onto your phone.

So your point about many suppliers is moot, your issue is with the application that manages the media.

I’m starting with a clean slate as far as downloads go. I’ve checked reading the screen on the iPhone and don’t have a problem but it is potentially an issue at work as I wear contact lenses (short sighted) and don’t want to reach the situation where I need reading specs to operate the phone. I also have fairly stumpy sausage fingers!

My laptop OS is Ubuntu, so will that spring any compatibility issues with either when uploading vids/pics taken on the phone?

Edit

On the matter of resale, when I got my iPhone 4 I sold my 3 on ebay and got 175 for it.

That is certainly a consideration as the phones will cost me the same over 24 months

My laptop OS is Ubuntu

In that case I’d probably go for the S2

they’re great

regardless which you get I suspect you’ll learn to use it quickly and will really like it

then, after a while, you’ll learn to despise anyone who chooses anything else and you’ll begin stalking the internet looking for pointless arguments

i got an android phone (cheap but with a nice big screen) and my wife has an iphone. they’re both fine (but don’t tell the android gang I said so 😳 ). I’d say the iphone is still a bit “easier to own” (general chitchat about what’s available for them is easier to come across and new things I might want for work still tend to be developed for iphones first) though the “gap” is closing and i wouldn’t swap, just because of the screen size

I’d suggest, in the absence of compelling need for something in particular that’s unique to one or other, try this:

if you like to piss about with your stuff (not in a bad sense), get an android. if you don’t, get an iphone

I’ve had the S2 since it came out on Orange and it really is a great piece of kit. Lovely big bright sharp screen, swipe keyboard is brilliant and its so fast. Battery life is excellent, I can get more than 24 hours with wifi, bluetooth and gps all switched on. Much more durable than it would first seem for such a thin and light phone. Camera is superb 8mp and 1080HD video recording too. Massive internal memory (12 gig I think).

Not used an I phone so cant comment.

Maybe wait for the S3 though….just to confuse things a little more 🙂

or the iphone 5 😀

Really if you are on Ubuntu then I think you’re better off with the S2.

I don’t think iTunes works 100% under Wine.
Not sure though, perhaps others can expand?

Thanks guys. Food for thought, and as said above, they are both excellent, so I’ll be happy with whichever I choose.

Only question now is, do I get it now, or wait a few days to see if there is a price drop after the iPhone 4s release?

The deal I’m looking at is £30 a month, 24 month contract, free phone, 450 Mins, Unlimited UK Landline or Orange to Orange Calls, 750MB Data, 250 Texts, VoiceMail, Warranty Cover

they are both excellent, so I’ll be happy with whichever I choose.

I think that’s the nub of it. They’re both decent handsets with little between them, so there’s no ‘wrong’ decision here. Personally I’d suggest that Android has the edge for you solely for compatibility reasons with your desktop OS choice.

WRT resale value, I recently upgraded from my Desire (classic) to a new Sensation and got £140 for the old phone at Fonebank. I’d suspect that the iPhone holds its value better than a given HTC (say), but again there’s probably not a great deal in it.

I’ve an s2, the mrs has an iphone 4. There’s no way I’d swap, the screen seems better to look at, the touch screen is much more responsive and as a whole it’s noticeably slimmer and lighter.

I’ll leave the android versus ios thing for geekier people than me to fight over.

I’ve an s2, the mrs has an iphone 4.

I’ve a Sensation (Android) and OH has an iPhone4. There’s no way I’d swap, but also, there’s no way she’d swap.

Everyone’s happy then. Beautiful.

as a whole it’s noticeably slimmer and lighter.

Yep. 21g lighter and 0.8mm slimmer. Astonishing. 🙂

Not sure that one is a game changer for the OP.

Just a point to the “missus has X I have Y” crew:

Whhhyyyy?

If you were both on X or Y then you could share all the apps you buy so you only pay for them once. Maybe not an issue for the 69p apps, but a good potential saving if you’re buying a £49 TomTom app!

Not a game changer and it will be in a fairly robust case (that’s another ??) as things tend to get knocked around a bit at work and it’s one of the reasons I discounted the HTC Sensation.

GrahamS – Member
Just a point to the “missus has X I have Y” crew:

Whhhyyyy?

If you were both on X or Y then you could share all the apps you buy so you only pay for them once.

I’ve been using android phones since they first appeared with the G1 (3 years ish), and I’ve never paid for a single app.
There are free versions of everything I want, something that definitely can’t be said for my iPad.