iPhone 5 vs Samsung Galaxy SIII

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  • muntamunta Posts: 18,285
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    It depends on the person.

    Both phones are outstanding.

    If you're technically-minded and like to tinker, you would probably be happier with the S3.
    I'm very technical and love to tinket. But not with a phone. :)

    I have an HTC as well as iPhones and really never liked android. I know different phones will give me a different experience but android just doesn't suit me from what I've seen.

    As you say, it does depend upon the person. I would never advise someone to get an iPhone. I would advise them to try the alternatives and see which suits them best.

    Regarding a swappable battery. Most people swap their phones every two years or so. Batteries do not lose much of their capacity to charge over two years. So I would hazard a guess that 99.9% of the people saying that swappable batteries are important to them have never swapped a battery in their phone and they never will.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 482
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    kidspud wrote: »
    I was told this does not work very well, and definitely not as advertised.

    My personal experience is that it does not always work if you wear glasses, (I do), so my OH increased the font size to remove the need for his reading glasses, and it now works fine for him. :)
  • kidspudkidspud Posts: 18,341
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    My personal experience is that it does not always work if you wear glasses, (I do), so my OH increased the font size to remove the need for his reading glasses, and it now works fine for him. :)

    OK. I was going by what others had said about it not always picking up the face (I think you needed to make sure the camera was square to the face) and failed in low light (not darkness) which is actually the situation samsung show you in their S3 advert.
  • tdensontdenson Posts: 5,773
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    Mr. Cool wrote: »
    ...and if you don't have an Apple store nearby?

    Go to Mr iPatch down in Trinity Arcade and he will do it for £25. Given that the only iPhone battery I've ever replaced in a total of about 15 I've had or bought for family members is a 3 year old 3GS, I don't really see it as an issue. As someone else has said I can't see a high proportion of DS members keeping a phone more than two years.
  • tdensontdenson Posts: 5,773
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    swordman wrote: »
    Why are you debating the merits of a removable battery it is clearly better to have the option :confused:

    It might be clearly better to you. However, if one accepts the (IMO) minor limitations of a fixed battery there are clearly design advantages to a fixed one. For example I doubt the iPhone 5 could have been as slim as it is had it needed a battery compartment and cover.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 511
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    swordman wrote: »
    Why are you debating the merits of a removable battery it is clearly better to have the option :confused:

    Because it clearly compromises the form-factor of the phone.


    To the OP, try both phones out and read some of the more informative reviews, these will give you a better feel than the highly polarised views here.
  • tdensontdenson Posts: 5,773
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    Dan Sette wrote: »
    Never understood the swap batteries argument. So you carry a spare battery to extend the working day. On an Iphone you get a charger pack - about the same size as a battery and does exactly the same thing,


    A lot of creedence is put on Google Maps - if you want them - they're available for the iPhone as well.

    However I've not used them in 4 years - and I suspect I won't use Apple's offering either,

    I have TomTom on the phone - much more practical than either (at the moment)

    Have to agree with you on the spare battery issue, it's actually easier to plug in an external pack than swap batteries.

    On the navigation side it's worth looking at the Apple turn by turn. I also have TomTom, both stand alone and as an app on the iPhone. However, I have stopped using it in preference to Apple's offering since the Apple one is integrated with Siri and I can say something like "take me to 5 Beech Road Oxford" which contrary to popular opinion works most of the time for me. The other nice thing is that the spoken back instructions are much better/clearer pronunciation than the TomTom ones.
    I haven't had any problems with map accuracy - other than the POIs which admittedly are rubbish, but then I never use the TomTom POIs while driving since they are just too complicated/distracting to operate.
  • tdensontdenson Posts: 5,773
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    munta wrote: »
    . So I would hazard a guess that 99.9% of the people saying that swappable batteries are important to them have never swapped a battery in their phone and they never will.

    I would be careful saying that. Stiggles will be along in a minute and apparently he has had every fault know to man on all his iDevices and several times over on each one.
  • Mark in EssexMark in Essex Posts: 3,836
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    kidspud wrote: »
    OK. I was going by what others had said about it not always picking up the face (I think you needed to make sure the camera was square to the face) and failed in low light (not darkness) which is actually the situation samsung show you in their S3 advert.

    Mine has always worked in low light (like if I have the lights off in the bedroom with just the television on), but totally agree that you have to be right in front of it, but I think I do that anyway when I am using the phone (some other people might hold it at a different angle).
  • Mark in EssexMark in Essex Posts: 3,836
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    tdenson wrote: »
    It might be clearly better to you. However, if one accepts the (IMO) minor limitations of a fixed battery there are clearly design advantages to a fixed one. For example I doubt the iPhone 5 could have been as slim as it is had it needed a battery compartment and cover.

    I think I can live with the extra 1mm of thickness that the S3 is over the IPhone 5 for a bigger battery and one that you can have a spare for.
  • Mark in EssexMark in Essex Posts: 3,836
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    tdenson wrote: »
    Have to agree with you on the spare battery issue, it's actually easier to plug in an external pack than swap batteries.

    Do you not have to have the pack plugged in for a while?

    With work if my phone is running out (I don't have access to mains as I'm a mobile computer engineer) I just take 10 secs swapping the battery with one out of my car and don't have to have a battery pack connected to my phone for a while.
  • paulbrockpaulbrock Posts: 16,632
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    munta wrote: »
    So I would hazard a guess that 99.9% of the people saying that swappable batteries are important to them have never swapped a battery in their phone and they never will.

    I'll be in the 0.1% then. Vital if you're away for a few days without power sockets, like Glastonbury. Yes there are crappy charging points there, but have you seen the queues?!
  • the chimpthe chimp Posts: 12,139
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    tdenson wrote: »
    It might be clearly better to you. However, if one accepts the (IMO) minor limitations of a fixed battery there are clearly design advantages to a fixed one. For example I doubt the iPhone 5 could have been as slim as it is had it needed a battery compartment and cover.

    Clearly it does have both a battery compartment and a battery cover as :

    A. It has a battery.

    B. You can not see the battery.
  • whoever,heywhoever,hey Posts: 30,992
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    tdenson wrote: »
    It might be clearly better to you. However, if one accepts the (IMO) minor limitations of a fixed battery there are clearly design advantages to a fixed one. For example I doubt the iPhone 5 could have been as slim as it is had it needed a battery compartment and cover.

    Thickness over convenience :D

    Typical apple. Same reason they could have kept the thickness but increased the battery life.

    Apple conferences are alway they same, they just go on about "thinner, thinner, thinner" ;) World thinnest iPhone, well yeah, but what about phones in general? Isn't it a bit obvious its going to be the thinnest if your even mentioning it?

    They dont say world longest life iphone battery do they?
  • whoever,heywhoever,hey Posts: 30,992
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    Summat wrote: »
    Because it clearly compromises the form-factor of the phone.

    It only compromises it because it was NEVER a brief for the engineers.

    Apple fans will buy anything if Apple say its the best way. if Apple dont put it in a device then it clearly is for the better.

    Style over substance.
  • swordmanswordman Posts: 6,679
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    Summat wrote: »
    Because it clearly compromises the form-factor of the phone.


    To the OP, try both phones out and read some of the more informative reviews, these will give you a better feel than the highly polarised views here.

    views like this and battery comments in general show iphone users for what they are totally committed to their apple way of thinking with no objectivity at all.

    I really like the one x my kid has one but with no battery and sd not an option for me. Whilst a removable battery may not be vital for some to say it does not matter and better not to have the option is clearly ridiculous.

    In addition the cost of the iphone compared to the s3 you would have thought is clearly prohibitive. 16gb is simply not enough (I know iphone users will claim it is plenty and if it came with 8gb they would claim the same) so £600+ for the 32gb is madness in comparison to the £380 for the s3. If you go for the 64gb version you could almost buy 2 s3's.
  • kidspudkidspud Posts: 18,341
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    Thickness over convenience :D

    Typical apple. Same reason they could have kept the thickness but increased the battery life.

    Apple conferences are alway they same, they just go on about "thinner, thinner, thinner" ;) World thinnest iPhone, well yeah, but what about phones in general? Isn't it a bit obvious its going to be the thinnest if your even mentioning it?

    They dont say world longest life iphone battery do they?

    I'm not sure the decision is thickness over convenience. People can come up with examples as to why swapping a battery is important to them, however, I don't think we are talking about anywhere near a majority of owners. I'll do a survey in my office next week, but I reckon in a group of 20 people who own smart phones (both apple and android) I will be lucky to find one who carries (or owns) a spare battery.
  • swordmanswordman Posts: 6,679
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    kidspud wrote: »
    I'm not sure the decision is thickness over convenience. People can come up with examples as to why swapping a battery is important to them, however, I don't think we are talking about anywhere near a majority of owners. I'll do a survey in my office next week, but I reckon in a group of 20 people who own smart phones (both apple and android) I will be lucky to find one who carries (or owns) a spare battery.

    Nor do I carry a spare battery around with me i suspect no one does on a daily basis. However when I travel away with work and I know I will be out from about 5am to midnight and watching movies on train using sat nav in the day on top of normal use it is nice to have the option to swap the battery out. Having some charge pack sticking out of your phone etc is not the same nor does it do the same job.
  • Sam SeedSam Seed Posts: 390
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    galaxy s3.... hands down
  • Mark in EssexMark in Essex Posts: 3,836
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    swordman wrote: »
    views like this and battery comments in general show iphone users for what they are totally committed to their apple way of thinking with no objectivity at all.

    I really like the one x my kid has one but with no battery and sd not an option for me. Whilst a removable battery may not be vital for some to say it does not matter and better not to have the option is clearly ridiculous.

    In addition the cost of the iphone compared to the s3 you would have thought is clearly prohibitive. 16gb is simply not enough (I know iphone users will claim it is plenty and if it came with 8gb they would claim the same) so £600+ for the 32gb is madness in comparison to the £380 for the s3. If you go for the 64gb version you could almost buy 2 s3's.

    Totally agree 100%

    I have well over 30gb of music, over 16gb of photos plus more for films on my 64gb SD card and still have loads of space left for apps on the phone + a fair bit still on the SD card.

    I could not even do with a plain 64gb phone!

    And don't talk about cloud storage as if you have a bad signal it won't work, eats up your data and is slow.
  • Steven L HunterSteven L Hunter Posts: 10,724
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    I can't vote I had an iphone 4 and recently swapped to a Samsung Galaxy S3 although a nice looking phone and screen I miss iphone and I'm going to get the iphone 5 as I find you have to change settings for the s3 to work properly and the sound quality is terrible making calls its like you're going through a bad signal area when you have fill signal.

    Also the websites don't always display properly and if you need to click in a box to fill out a for it doesn't always work properly. I know on iphone it doesn't either but you can tell a lot of work has been put into iphones to make sure they are as compatible as possible.

    Again with the S3 you can't hold it comfortably and not feel like you're not going to drop it.

    I would say if you like complicated things the S3 is for you if not and you want to be able to pick up your phone and use it quickly and easily the iphone is for you.

    I will vote in this poll once I try the iphone 5
  • Mark in EssexMark in Essex Posts: 3,836
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    Sorry double post.
  • m4tt24m4tt24 Posts: 843
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    Also the websites don't always display properly and if you need to click in a box to fill out a for it doesn't always work properly. I know on iphone it doesn't either but you can tell a lot of work has been put into iphones to make sure they are as compatible as possible.

    So both don't work properly in the situation you describe but you can identify more work has been put into iPhones even though on the iphone it doesn't work either. :confused:
  • whoever,heywhoever,hey Posts: 30,992
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    Also the websites don't always display properly and if you need to click in a box to fill out a for it doesn't always work properly. I know on iphone it doesn't either but you can tell a lot of work has been put into iphones to make sure they are as compatible as possible.

    The S3 keyboard surely cant be as buggy as the iPhones! Where your trying to type something in an edit field like this one, and the keyboard keeps closing! Its so infuriating!

    Apple users are very forgiving of bugs, yet everything just works :rolleyes:.
  • kidspudkidspud Posts: 18,341
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    swordman wrote: »
    Nor do I carry a spare battery around with me i suspect no one does on a daily basis. However when I travel away with work and I know I will be out from about 5am to midnight and watching movies on train using sat nav in the day on top of normal use it is nice to have the option to swap the battery out. Having some charge pack sticking out of your phone etc is not the same nor does it do the same job.

    Which is ironic, because I have a blackberry (and now a ace 2) and I travel a large amount for work (I spend approx 2 months of the year in different parts of the word). I brought a power monkey. Why, because it could be used to charge my blackberry, my little nokia phone and anything else I needed. As a true business need I think charge packs are far more useful.

    However, mine (and your) needs are by far the minority need. Even business travelers charge in cars, airport lounges, hotel rooms, etc.

    I do understand the convenience you put on it, the point I was making is for most people they will not even make it a consideration.
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