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The iPhone 5s is much smaller than the Galaxy S4. If you want a bigger screen, you probably want the Galaxy S4 or the HTC One or something along those lines. The phone you pick is all about your personal tastes, both about the device, and perhaps about the company that make it if you care to vote with your wallet.
People say the iPhone's are bad. It's not true. They're just lame because buying one encourages a company which is arguably worse than its competitors in terms of inhumane and overall disgusting business practices, and in terms of misleading customers (they have little gurlies buying $2500 macbook for facebook, etc.). Fact is, the iPhone 5s is most likely going to be a fine device, but you'll have to pay for it with your sense of morality as well as money.
Samsung, Google, LG, etc. are not great either. They're companies which are here to make a profit too, and they couldn't care less about any of you or the people who work in sweat shop assembly lines. But they're not as bad (arguably).
More relevant: Again, all the high end devices are great. Varying degrees of great, but they're all pretty fucking great. They feel solid, behave well. Get one in your hand, test it out of you can. You won't be disappointed with any of the reputable and largely appreciated phones. Don't believe the people who say the S4, HTC One or iPhone 5s suck, they're morons.
*Sorry about the tangents, that's just what I say when I see the little Android vs Apple thing. </wisdombomb>
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The main difference that you should probably consider is the phone size. Both phones contain every feature that you want in a phone, so there isn't a significant benefit of choosing one OS over the other. However if you don't like having something big in your pocket, that's a significant reason to get an iphone, while if you want a nice display for media and such, that's a significant reason to get the galaxy. Personally, I hate having big things in my pocket, and I carry around a tablet in my backpack, so my phone is nice and small, but between my phone and tablet, I have every functionality I need.
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Main differences come down to cost and if you prefer android or IoS. S4 is probably slightly better for your money in speed, screen etc. It's not that huge a difference though I think, it's mainly just what you prefer in system. I use android because I prefer the way it works over iphone but I have to admit the IoS apps are much better on the higher end. For free apps the android market is bigger (though full with shit) but many quality paid apps only exist on ios. I guess there is also some benefits to IoS if you use other apple stuff. If you pay a bit more and prefer better apps go iphone, just cheaper and better for what you pay go android.
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if you have used android apps and some are really just irreplaceable on the iOS. Swype/swiftkey are probably the best keyboards out there on phone. I also find the lossless music player to be far superior in android, TTpod music player for example instantly updates album arts and lyrics. being able to change the launcher is awesome as well.
honestly the main reason to get an iphone was a stable OS but with the spec of S4 etc, android OS just operates just as smooth while allowing more customization. Flashing rom for example just gives you that extra boost and customization if you need. You can fine tune the level of battery usage and amount of hardware power coming on.
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Hyrule18938 Posts
Samsung is a better company than Apple (eg they don't enslave their workers). I had an iPhone 4S for a while, and currently have a Galaxy S3. The S3 is better in basically every way, in my opinion. It's not much larger than the 4S, but it's lighter. It's got a better screen, better responsiveness, it's quicker, and there's much better developer support (yay Android!)
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Galaxy, no doubt. iPhones are just more expensive while having smaller screens and non-standard connections. Who the fuck wants a lightning connection when you can have a micro-B connector? Charging my galaxy with my mouse cord? No problem. With an iPhone? SURE you can, just pay out of your ass for an adaptor.
EDIT: I don't think the above poster is correct about enslaving workers, there's no one working at Samsung who isn't a slave. Partly because of the standard of work in Korea, partly because they are huge and can do what they want. I have a friend who worked with Samsung as a customer for a few years, he said he wouldn't accept a job offer on Samsung even if they payed him 15 000 dollars a month because of how they treat their employees.
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On September 20 2013 15:31 Tobberoth wrote: Galaxy, no doubt. iPhones are just more expensive while having smaller screens and non-standard connections. Who the fuck wants a lightning connection when you can have a micro-B connector? Charging my galaxy with my mouse cord? No problem. With an iPhone? SURE you can, just pay out of your ass for an adaptor.
EDIT: I don't think the above poster is correct about enslaving workers, there's no one working at Samsung who isn't a slave. Partly because of the standard of work in Korea, partly because they are huge and can do what they want. I have a friend who worked with Samsung as a customer for a few years, he said he wouldn't accept a job offer on Samsung even if they payed him 15 000 dollars a month because of how they treat their employees. if you are working in asia, you would expect that amount of workload to be standard, OT is extremely common, taking work back home is also normal. It's just you europeans and americans are having it easy. When I took a part time job in toysrus, I worked around 11hours straight for 5 days in the same week. sure I was earning more money because of the OT but that is what they expect from you.
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Hyrule18938 Posts
Have you heard of Foxconn?
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On September 20 2013 15:38 ETisME wrote: When I took a part time job in toysrus, I worked around 11hours straight for 5 days in the same week. sure I was earning more money because of the OT but that is what they expect from you. The difference being that you got paid for that OT. And you were probably not forced to go drink with the bosses afterwards.
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On September 20 2013 15:39 tofucake wrote: Have you heard of Foxconn? Sure, but Foxconn isn't Apple. While it's despicable that Apple buys labor from such a shit company, at least Apple is looking into the allegations and I'm pretty sure that if you work at Apple proper, you're treated quite well indeed.
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I dislike the iOS UI and the small screen of iPhones. I personally use the Nexus 4 over the S4. Even though the S4 has a slight edge in hardware but 200$ cheaper and a more durable feel did it for me.
edit: And Android OS accessibility compared to Windows and iOS is far superior. I had a HD7 Windows Mobile phone before my upgrade to a Nexus 4, the metro UI is pretty and all but it felt too streamlined.
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On September 20 2013 15:41 Tobberoth wrote:Show nested quote +On September 20 2013 15:38 ETisME wrote: When I took a part time job in toysrus, I worked around 11hours straight for 5 days in the same week. sure I was earning more money because of the OT but that is what they expect from you. The difference being that you got paid for that OT. And you were probably not forced to go drink with the bosses afterwards. um... not sure, I haven't heard any case where OT isn't paid for, not in HK anyway. And as for drinking with boss, it's just the same everywhere in Asia, especially in bigger companies. in a lot of business dealing with chinese, you have to have a big meal with everyone getting drunk and don't get to talk business until the next day. It's quite normal to go drinking with bosses. Japan, China, Hong Kong, they all have this.
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On September 20 2013 15:47 Tobberoth wrote:Sure, but Foxconn isn't Apple. While it's despicable that Apple buys labor from such a shit company, at least Apple is looking into the allegations and I'm pretty sure that if you work at Apple proper, you're treated quite well indeed. The fact stays that those laubers that work at foxcon are still working for apple. It is also apples responsabilty to treat those workers propely. If i wasnt mistaken lg samsung and google also hired people in foxconn or similair factorys.
But on topic, i would take s4 purely for the fact that it runs on andriod
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As someone mentioned before it is less a question which phone to buy but much more which OS you like more,
For me, all apple products dont stand a chance because I dont want to invest into a new infrastructure when I already own a windows pc and an Android Tablet. It's all compatible and investing into iOS wouldn't make any sense atm. I also dont like the style of most apple products but thats just a matter of taste.
So I would buy the S4 over any iPhone anytime. New Android versions are awesome and fast.
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Screen size and itunes are the dealbreaker for me. The iphone is a lovely thing to hold and look at in its own right, but I can't be doing with the fiddly small screens and I can't stand the itunes abstraction layer between me and what's on my device.
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don't ever buy somehting that has less than a 13mp camera otherwise its a rip off and i phones are utter shit yes just like s4s to some extent
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I have the s4 mini and is perfect cause it has everything i want in a smartphone and is the perfect size.
Not a bad choice !
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I am very happy about my S4, it lasts for 5 days without charging and it has amazing screen size + 1080p quality!!!!
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Most nerds like us have small hands, who needs a 6" phone?! We are good with 4 inches!!
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United States22883 Posts
Tbh, the S4 is not the Android phone you should be looking at.
The main consideration for both phones should be how you like the size/feel. The iPhone is a small phone, the S4 is a large phone. Pretty obvious (and noticeable) advantages between the two forms.
Next, how much involvement do you want to have? On an Android phone, you've got a regular file system (like on Windows), you can do stuff like change the keyboards, home screens, and it'll likely take some searching to find the right combination for you (but everything should reflect your preferences.) That's not really possible on an iPhone (unless it's jailbroken), and it's designed for people who aren't looking to know their phone inside and out, and have no desire to tinker.
Personally, I find all of the major Google services to be superior to Apple's services (Now vs. Siri, Maps vs. Maps.)
Finally, which ecosystem are you tied to already? GMail/Google Docs or iCloud? They obviously integrate better with their respective services.
All that said, the S4 still isn't the phone you should be looking at. It's no longer the most powerful Android phone, and it's always had small performance issues due to Samsung's bloatware, not to mention many people just don't like the form. The LG G2 is essentially superior to the S4 in every respect, the most important of which are performance and battery life. It also has a better screen and camera, but I consider those minor advantages.
The top Android phone in terms of outward design and build quality is probably the HTC One. It should be equal in most respects to the S4, except HTC's bloatware is a bit less intrusive than Samsung's and it doesn't share the S4's weird slowdowns. It's a bit smaller but has a better screen, and battery life should be about equal. It definitely looks and feels nicer though.
Finally, I'd probably even take a Moto X over an S4. The performance difference is hugely overstated, especially since the S4 has the previously mentioned hangups (how Samsung screwed up Gallery is beyond me) and all of Samsung's animations cause extra delays. The Moto X doesn't have the best screen or battery life, but people are describing it as the most comfortable phone to hold, and its features are actually really thoughtfully designed and add great value, plus it's the closest to default Android of any of the phones listed here. Samsung and LG try to bombard customers with lists upon lists of features, but most of them go to waste and the best ones only address marginal needs. I think the Moto X's provide much greater benefits, even though there's only 3 or 4.
If you want a huge ass monster phone, you can always wait for the Galaxy Note 3. Still iffy on design, but it has the power to push it through everything and having a stylus can be kind of amazing. The biggest downside is you need Shaq's hands to hold it properly.
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