.. but surely the very nature of brainwashing would suggest that you wouldnt know if you had been brainwashed

I, for one, suspect foul play

Yes, but the difference is that they tend to have top spec hardware such as large, high resolution screens, NFC, fully featured Bluetooth etc

Mind you i suppose someone has to pay for the new $5 billion HQ

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/nov/15/norman-foster-apple-hq-mothership-spaceship-architecture

Is that being funded by:
a) High quality products built in smart factories with well paid workers with Apple just taking a small profit margin ?
or
b) Last years Tech built in slum factories with underpaid and underaged employees with Apple skimming a larger percentage of profits off the top ?

Answers on a postcard to etc etc ......

Just answer the question

There is nothing to compare - I asked is a top end Android phone a similar price to an iPhone. I think the answer is yes.

Yes and relatively hugely more, surprised you don't already know this Al

I was about to question those stats, because the last time Chrome was declared the world's most popular browser (a few months ago), I checked the websites I control, and found that IE was still the most popular browser for my visitors, though its share had been steadily declining. But I've just checked again, and its now in 4th place - just behind Safari, and well behind Firefox and Chrome, with Chrome in first place.

So it looks as though my stats were simply lagging the wave of change. I suppose this is all being driven by the increasing use of mobile devices to access the Internet, where IE counts for nothing.

As for the iPhone, I have been slightly surprised recently by some of the Young People of my acquaintance rubbishing it. Having used both, they seem to much prefer the latest Android devices.

I don't think they are - as far as I am aware iPhones at top end Android phone are about the same price.

The samsung devices people rave about are horrific tbh, also their corporate behaviour record is pretty bad, one of the worst.

I dont mind people slagging off Apple after all it in the in thing. But to ignore Smasung who are in all likelyhood worse than Apple is hypocritical.

RRP of the S5 is 569.99 - Isnt that more expensive than a 5s?

Its also a safe bet that the Apple devices gets more upgrades than the s5.

They are all priced in the same ballpark, they are seem specced to produce similar performance from their respective OS. Its been a myth Apple are more expensive than the competition for a while.

RRP really that is your basis

The 5s is not the same as a s5 is it though, the same generation would be the s4, One, z1. However the fact that a 5s and a s5 are the same price as you say should answer your question.

I believe the price of the S5 is falling quickly due to below par sales.

Im not a big Samsung 'fan' either. I dont think anyone should be a brand 'fan'. Some stuff Samsung have made is good, other stuff isnt. Some stuff LG make is good, other stuff isnt (etc etc). To say that things are 'OK' because 'someone else does it too' isnt really a defence.

Apple tend to get singled out because:
1) They have more money sat in the bank than ANY other company - more than many countries.
2) They seem to choose not to do much 'good' with that. Never been big on charity or looking after their employees if the stories are true.
3) Seem keen to stifle competition through the courts

.... and dont forget that if you spend £600 on an iPhone then Apple will take a big chunk as profit (at one point allegedly almost 50%) whereas on a £600 S5 Samsung will take a much lower percentage as profit. Apple like to keep their profit margins considerably higher than the competition.

You could almost argue, if that way inclined, that your £600 iPhone gets £400 worth of hardware and R&D and support and marketing whereas your S5 gives you about £500 worth of hardware and R&D and support and marketing.

(figures are indicative only)

Have you any evidence to back up how much profit samsung make on a S5. What makes you think they make less than 50% profit?

From my experience it works both ways.

The old Apple Fanboi phrase springs to mind and people saying just how much better spec I could have got in an Android phone.

Personally I can see the appeal in both. Android offers far better customisation, speed and is rootable, but on the whole iOS is easier to use. (imo)

My personal and recent experience of Android has not been good, having bought a Nexus 5 I have noticed frequent data drops and dropped calls, something not experienced with my cheaper Alcatel Idol S or my iPhone 5.

If I could incorporate the stability and consistent traits of iOS into Android I wouldn't be carrying two phones.

I prefer Android for its superb notifications, speed and ability to root any handset, but iOS day to day is reliable and Android varies so much from device to device.

Negatives do get turned around into a positive and vice versa.

It is how it works with a brand leader and obviously because you just know no one wants twin apps on screen at once etc etc etc


Innovation? Nope, just a same tired story.

The power of the phone is not what alanwarwic was discussing though - he was trying and failing to make out that Apple owners often have older/damaged/scratched phones as they are so expensive to replace compared to Android phones.

What alanwaric has got to do with my post clearly only makes sense to you.

I dislike both Google and Apple. I very much prefer to be locked in and spied on by MS not by the other two.

Funnily enough seeing this thread is appropriate for my case at our house
I look after all the contracts and upgrades at our house me wife daughter

and I have long been along the lines that Android is better by a country mile than Iphones/Ipad etc

and I am usually the first in the queue bashing the Apple products however in the last few months my mind has been changed somewhat

I still think Android is better operating system but Apple is also a great product
we got an Ipad mini about 3 months ago and my daughter wanted an Iphone so thats what they wanted - thats what they got

No ifs or buts my daughter Loves the iphone far better than either of the two andriod phones she had previously, insisting it far better

my wife has taken over the Ipad mini and no one can get near it now she absolutely loves it and I must say it is a great product (bar one or two Quirks) which I really dislike

the dislikes with the IOS is the Junk installed by Apple cannot be removed whereas on our Androids 2 seconds and any junk can be removed

another thing I really dislike with the Apple is that every time I install anything it needs a username and password which is damned annoying to say the least
tried every thing to stop this but cant get round it
also I cannot change the camera resolution which although not a big deal is still not great

so in essence two out of 3 at my house have been converted to Apple from Android

My thoughts are that it is a far better device than I gave it credit for in fact it is an excellent product - is it better than a good Android - no it is not, and I would not change anytime soon

but it is an excellent product and far better than I thought it was before we got one

That's the thing, there lots of that 'suits my needs' kind of line, when sometimes it is because they own the most expensive phone available.

Most of the FUD about Android is only semi quantified, like that Samsung twin screen mode that very bizarrely gets classed as bloat.
Quantifiable IOS stuff seldom if ever gets mentioned, which is a shame as IOS has some positives too.

Well considering Apple's dont discount I assumed that was a fair comparision. After all the iphone 6 will likely be very similar price to the s5 was launch and I cant find an s5 cheaper than £540.

Apple price includes really good customer support, not something the Android vendors can boast.

Well, you can already pre-order the new LG G3 for less than £500.
And obviously the screen in it costs over 3 times more than the basic one in the iPhone.
It is likely the same with the Galaxy S5, less resolution than the G3 but OLED cost is high.

The S5 is below £500 too, and below £450 if you foolishly risk buying it at dodgy places.

Or is it ...

c) Massive app store and music sales ....

or

d) They'll just pay for it in cash.

Not sure what your problem is with b) - they're all doing it. And I hate myself for bringing this up, but which Android devices are running 64 bit processors? Oh, thats right - none of them. So most Android kit is using last years tech ... I know that 64 bit is of little real world use, but the percentage of people who genuinely need or use NFC, fully featured bluetooth are pretty small as well. So their real world usage is negligible.

A write up(ARS I think) said 64 bit used 20 to 30% extra memory so that overactive auto-Kill switch in IOS might be down to being 64 bit.
I'm a bit dubious about that. I put killing browser tabs part down to Apple anti-web policy, and the rest of it down to bad code/IOS memory leaks.

What are you on about?

Yes, there was a definite bug in iOS 7.0.x that caused Safari to crash and sometimes lose tabs very frequently. I complained about it on here. Safari was crashing for me at least once every single day. It wasn't a good experience at all. However, this has been fixed in iOS 7.1. Since updating, I haven't experienced a single crash of Safari.

I've seen you mention this browser tab killing in iOS several times now, but I've seen nothing about it and I've not experienced it either and I regularly leave tabs open on my devices. Is there a story about this you've seen? Link?