Apple(iOS) vs Samsung(Android)

[Kryten]

There's a lot of bloat, but there's some good stuff in there. The music player is certainly a lot better than Play Music for local content.

[Nibb31]

I haven't found anything that can't be replaced by something better from the Play Store.

However, there is a whole category of users that never downloads anything from the Play Store and relies only on stuff that came preloaded with the phone, including the default ringtone or wallpaper.

[SpaceXray]

This. Right here. Samsung can already declare bankrupcy

Now name something Apple doesn't have.

Apple has Siri, App store(largest and most reliable collection of apps), 3rd party keyboards, smart autosuggest, 240 FPS video, a better camera, landscape mode even on iPhone, health app, NFC+Apple pay(much easier to use and understand than Google Wallet), apps can now interact with each other, you can log in to websites with Touch ID, 64 bit games, an even higher pixel density, large screen-what makes Samsung or Google so special now?

Btw here is a good article on why Apple Pay is better:

http://www.quora.com/Why-do-people-think-Apple-Pay-is-so-innovative%E2%80%94an-equivalent-feature-has-been-part-of-Android-for-more-than-two-years

Edited September 21, 2014 by SpaceXray

[Kryten]

What, you're gloating about them finally copying phablets and smartwatches now, years behind everyone else? What happened to the talk of innovation earlier? Does it not matter now it's something even a rabid fanboy can see apple is now completely incapable of?

[Red Iron Crown]

This. Right here. Samsung can already declare bankrupcy

You are aware that Samsung manufactures the flash memory in iOS devices? Even if the iPhone stopped sales of Android altogether Samsung would be in no danger of bankruptcy.

It won't though, Android will continue to outsell iOS in all likelihood.

[Seret]

Now name something Apple doesn't have.

Good to see they're catching up on some of the missing features. Still a few to go though:

[a bit sweary, so somewhat NSFW]

Seriously though, it is good to see Apple have eaten a bit of humble pie and incorporated some of the successful developments from the Android phones. The user wins when this happens. It's a bit disappointing to see Apple seem content to give up its position as a leader though. They're capable of forcing everybody else to try harder, but they haven't been doing it for a while now.

It'll be interesting to see when they drop their stupid charging cables. IIRC the EU has mandated that all phones have to use micro USB from 2017. Everybody else has already transitioned, it's a bit odd that Apple have bothered with the Lightning plug when they're going to have to drop it in one of their major markets soon anyway. I hope they don't try and do something mental like ship different ports in different regions.

Edited September 21, 2014 by Seret

[Red Iron Crown]

Cherry picking, but a bit amusing nonetheless:

[GoSlash27]

I've never understood the whole "apple vs samsung fanboi" thing. Unless you happen to be a stockholder or employee, it's a pretty silly thing to bicker about or take pride in.

I've looked over all the options and decided that the best phone *for my needs* is the Galaxy. Specifically the Note 4, and here's why:

1) the battery can be replaced (or upgraded if you wish).

My current Galaxy S3 has a 7,200 mAH battery in it. I don't have to worry about running out of juice.

2) expandable micro SD memory.

I have 32G on board and another 64G expansion. This is important for me because I use my phone as a portable media player more than anything else and I have a lot of media. Speaking of media...

3) Android plays mp3s and WMV. I don't want to convert all my stuff to apple-specific formats and limit where I can swap stuff. And also...

4) Bigger,brighter, cleaner, higher resolution screens. Apple is just now catching up to my current phone, and my current phone is old hat. The Note 4 has a quad HD 5.7" super Amoled display with a pixel density of over 500 pixels per inch. Great for movies and of course surfing.

5) The processor. quad core 2.7 GHz with 3G of RAM. Doesn't bog down when multitasking. Which reminds me...

6) Multitasking. The Galaxy phones are very good at this. Almost as easy as doing it on a desktop.

Now... this is not to say that the Galaxy phones are "better" than iPhones. Merely that they have what *I* want in a cell phone. Or at least more of it than anything else out there.

Best,

-Slashy

[GoSlash27]

This. Right here. Samsung can already declare bankrupcy

Hate to burst your bubble, but Samsung has had that watch for years. Their new watch completely blows it out of the water because:

It's not even a competition here. Built-in 3G and it's own SIM card means that it's a true wearable smart phone. It can do everything a smart phone can do all by itself and can network with your actual phone even when you leave it at home or in your car.

Apple's a generation behind on this tech.

Best,

-Slashy

[SpaceXray]

Hate to burst your bubble, but Samsung has had that watch for years. Their new watch completely blows it out of the water because:

It's not even a competition here. Built-in 3G and it's own SIM card means that it's a true wearable smart phone. It can do everything a smart phone can do all by itself and can network with your actual phone even when you leave it at home or in your car.

Apple's a generation behind on this tech.

Best,

-Slashy

Look at how gimmicky it is. The UI is terrible, you cover up the whole screen with your fingers all the time. Apple on the other hand has magnetic armbands, a bunch of sensors, magnetic wireless charging, NFC, a sapphire screen and a digital crown. Oh and did I mention hundreds of supported apps for the Apple Watch?

P.S. Wow srsly typing on that small of a screen.... And they didn't even show the crappy S voice in action.

Nothing beats Siri

Edited September 21, 2014 by SpaceXray

[GoSlash27]

Look at how gimmicky it is. The UI is terrible, you cover up the whole screen with your fingers all the time. Apple on the other hand has magnetic armbands, a bunch of sensors, magnetic wireless charging, NFC, a sapphire screen and a digital crown. Oh and did I mention hundreds of supported apps for the Apple Watch?

Smart watches are "gimmicky" by nature. There are at least a dozen watches out there that do everything your "new" apple watch does and they've been available (and cheaper) for years now. The only difference is Apple has finally gotten around to supporting one; *their* same ol' watch that only works with *their* phone.

This ain't exactly a game changer. People aren't going to flock to the Apple store merely because they finally got around to making a proprietary version of the old Sony SmartWatch 2.

I already scratch my head over the whole "fanboi" attitude, like Apple is your favorite football team or sumpthin'. But it's downright bizarre to actually *gloat* over the release of a 2 year old watch design as if it's something new or different.

Best,

-Slashy

Edited September 21, 2014 by GoSlash27

[SpaceXray]

Hate to burst your bubble, but Samsung has had that watch for years. Their new watch completely blows it out of the water because:

It's not even a competition here. Built-in 3G and it's own SIM card means that it's a true wearable smart phone. It can do everything a smart phone can do all by itself and can network with your actual phone even when you leave it at home or in your car.

Apple's a generation behind on this tech.

Best,

-Slashy

Look at how gimmicky it is. The UI is terrible, you cover up the whole screen with your fingers all the time. Apple on the other hand has magnetic armbands, a bunch of sensors, magnetic wireless charging, NFC, a sapphire screen and a digital crown. Oh and did I mention hundreds of supported apps for the Apple Watch?

[Kryten]

All smartwatches are gimmicks, and they all have terrible UI's; apple hasn't changed any of this. It's ultimately paying a lot of money for something you'd need to charge every twelve hours and does nothing more than mean you can see notifications without pulling out your phone (just see them, not do anything about them, so you need to pull it out anyway), and in some cases fulfill the functions of a £40 fitness band in a substandard way.

[GoSlash27]

P.S. Wow srsly typing on that small of a screen.... And they didn't even show the crappy S voice in action.

Nothing beats Siri

*SMH*

I've done a lot of side-by-side comparison between Siri and the others, and it wasn't noticeably better than the other offerings back in the day. These days, you know who's got better voice control than Siri? Pretty much everybody.

Again, this is gloating over 2 year old tech. The game has moved on since then.

[Capt.Joseph Kerbertson]

Wow this guy is still on. Dude. Enjoy your Apple and quit dogging the rest of us who chose not to buy the hype.

[GoSlash27]

I'm probably never going to understand the whole "apple fanboi" thing, so I'll table that discussion.

Another thing that's puzzled me is something that seems to apply to all platforms and is usually the first thing mentioned in reviews: "Premium look and feel".

Can somebody who sees this as a priority please enlighten me as to why? I mean... certainly I can understand if a phone is just poorly made with buttons that don't always work and parts that fall off, but I'm talking about little stuff like "phone A is .2mm thinner, while phone B has burnished aluminum bezel".

Are there people out there who buy a premium smartphone and then don't put it in a protective case with a screen protector so they can enjoy the "premium look and feel"??

Honestly curious,

-Slashy

[rtxoff]

Are there people out there who buy a premium smartphone and then don't put it in a protective case with a screen protector so they can enjoy the "premium look and feel"??

Yeah, me for example, i hate cases.

[GoSlash27]

Yeah, me for example, i hate cases.

Wow, that's bold! Don't you worry about breaking or scratching it? The thought of chucking an unprotected smartphone in my pocket and walking around makes my skin crawl! O_o

Best,

-Slashy

Edited September 21, 2014 by GoSlash27

[GoSlash27]

*snip* you'd need to charge every twelve hours ...

I forgot about that! And when they mentioned it at the unveiling, I actually did a spit-take.

A watch that can't go even as long as 1/2 day without dying isn't very useful, particularly when you can only charge it at home (or wherever you keep your charger).

When Samsung unveiled this watch (last year) they said it could go 1 day, and that wasn't enough to get me to buy in. Apple's had a year since then to improve on it, and they've succeeded in doing absolutely nothing new with it except cutting the battery life in half.

No thanks!

Best,

-Slashy

Edited September 21, 2014 by GoSlash27

[SpaceXray]

I forgot about that! And when they mentioned it at the unveiling, I actually did a spit-take.

A watch that can't go even as long as 1/2 day without dying isn't very useful, particularly when you can only charge it at home (or wherever you keep your charger).

When Samsung unveiled this watch (last year) they said it could go 1 day, and that wasn't enough to get me to buy in. Apple's had a year since then to improve on it, and they've succeeded in doing absolutely nothing new with it except cutting the battery life in half.

No thanks!

Best,

-Slashy

The battery life isn't yet confirmed.

[GoSlash27]

The battery life isn't yet confirmed.

That's true. Could be *worse* than 12 hours...

/not a selling point

[Nibb31]

What did Samsng invent? Only a massive screen on phones thanks to which you need a separate bag to carry the phone. Also you need surgery to get longer fingers to reach eac part of the screen.

Did you watch the last episode of "iCarly"?

Sure the show was funny as hell and wasn't very intellectual, but they made a good point when it came to the Samsung galaxy note(worst gadget ever).

Basically, the guy got a "Samson note" from his mother. Everyone felt sorry for him

The thing is too small to be called a tablet and is too big to be a smartphone(looks wacky when you hold the big thing when talking, too heavy to have long calls, too big to fit in your pocket). He even had to get a purse-case to carry it

they did a good job there letting everyone know what a bad product that is, and they didn't directly call it by name, but everyone understood what they wanted to show.

So I guess you won't be buying an iPhone 6 Plus.

Oh and:

(which is actually wrong, it's $859 for 16GB storage and 1GB RAM, whereas the OnePlus One has 64Gb and 3GB RAM)

[GoSlash27]

So I guess you won't be buying an iPhone 6 Plus.

Actually, I'm inclined to give Apple a pass on this. The big gripe about them these last 2 years has been their insistence on using ridiculous little screens that suck for typing, browsing, and watching video. I'm glad they finally got away from that.

-Slashy

[Dispatcher]

What I like is to be able to choose between competing products and services. Ultimately, this tends to result in better, less expensive products and services. From what I can observe, each "brand" sells a range of quality/ price options. We all benefit from these choices, whatever these may be.

That said, there is always someone out there that is the first to bring an innovation to market. Apple was not the first company to market a home computer and software. Remember the Radio Shack Tandy computer and Commodore (and Basic)? Sure, even these were not the first. But they paved the way for the masses. The mouse and the GUI were not invented by Apple or Microsoft or IBM (you may recall the Canadian Navy's Datar track wheel system, MIT's (OK, Sutherland's) sketchpad, Stanford's On-Line System and Xerox PARC), but the mouse and GUI were first popularized and brought to the masses by Apple. Of course the major market share of "PCs" is currently held by Microsoft, whose Windows 1.0 OS relied on GUI elements licensed from Apple. The common element here to me is competition and recognizing and capitalizing upon innovation, as well as financial brawn and savvy. If you can innovate, do it. If you can't innovate, buy or license it. If you don't want to do that, copy it (if you can get away with it, apparently, regardless of the company in question).

As for smartphones with touch surfaces, the IBM Simon might be the first of those, but Apple popularized a much more advanced concept in its iPhone, along with "the" app store. Actually one can see an evolution and derivative integration of Apple's Newton PDA and the iPod, along with OSX and mobile phone technology. The One Plus is an attractive competing choice. On one hand, if not for Apple's iPhone, it probably would not exist. On the other hand, due to its existence, it will help keep Apple's prices in check.

As for "smart watches", one can argue that they were first rolled out in the '70s. Apple wants in on the action now, and will probably do well at it, with lots of happy customers in the process. After these latter prove to be successful (or not), Microsoft and other companies will follow suite (or not), regardless of Microsoft's SPOT watch or the Linux Smartwatch.

As to the classic Apple vs. Microsoft vs. Linux vs. whoever/ whatever else argument, I don't really care. Apple recognizes and encourages innovation (and for a long time actually lacked that capacity and was trying to follow and copy Microsoft and seems to have just given up its education market share, during the time that Jobs' was absent due to being fired), Microsoft is market savvy and has the capital to enter profitable markets (you may recall Microsoft Game Studios [before, during and after Bungie's time there] and the XBox); Linux is open source, which balances the triad to a significant degree. I appreciate the fact that they all exist, as this will give me more choices now and in the future, with regards to their markets. To all such people, companies and products; I say "welcome, and thanks!"

Edited September 21, 2014 by Dispatcher
See italics.

[Sean Mirrsen]

(which is actually wrong, it's $859 for 16GB storage and 1GB RAM, whereas the OnePlus One has 64Gb and 3GB RAM)

Not to mention, y'know, the expandable storage. How much is a 64GB microSD card these days?