Need Phone Advice - Iphone vs. Droid vs. Galaxy vs. HTC - Which one wins?

Gonna resurrect this thread. Back when I started it I was in sticker-shock at the data plans, and stuck with my basic phone. My employer has indicated they want me to have a smartphone and will foot the bill for whichever phone I choose.

Bad news: Now my employer has me on a short leash
Good news: Shopping Spreeee!!! :lol8:


I'm still leaning towards an Android phone. Maybe a Galaxy S3 --- unless you Apple geeks can convince me different. One key part of the data plan is that it must have the capability to shoot panoramic photos that can then be emailed to multiple recipients on the fly.

Discuss...

http://sd.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/i/w...hone-rules.png

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Originally Posted by accadacca

http://sd.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/i/w...hone-rules.png

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Here we go! :lol8: :popcorn::popcorn::popcorn: Damn, you're a night owl too?

Tonight I am. Sitting in Vancouver finishing up some slides for a meeting tomorrow, only 1 AM here. What is your excuse!?!? Business and pleasure trip: http://www.bogley.com/forum/showthre...math-Falls-Etc
Also finishing up the next Bogley giveaway... :popcorn:

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Originally Posted by rockgremlin

Gonna resurrect this thread. Back when I started it I was in sticker-shock at the data plans, and stuck with my basic phone. My employer has indicated they want me to have a smartphone and will foot the bill for whichever phone I choose.

Bad news: Now my employer has me on a short leash
Good news: Shopping Spreeee!!! :lol8:


I'm still leaning towards an Android phone. Maybe a Galaxy S3 --- unless you Apple geeks can convince me different. One key part of the data plan is that it must have the capability to shoot panoramic photos that can then be emailed to multiple recipients on the fly.

Discuss...

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Having recently switched to an Iphone only for its low energy blue tooth capabilities (different from normal blue tooth) allowing me to use some specific speed and cadence sensors on my bike in conjunction with a low energy blue tooth heart Rate monitor. I have to say that I detest the apple app store, its like searching with a search engine that doesn't actually work, you have to search the web first and once you know the exact app you want then go to the app store.. that and it is slow, laggy etc.. The phone is nice but I would much prefer the openness of the android system.. Go with a Galaxy S3 and you won't be dissapointed.. the S4 is just too big. The pano photo thing can be done on any of the phones so that is not a issue.

Also don't go with a Windows phone just yet.. the new OS is really nice but there are just not enough apps to make it worth it..

LOVE LOVE LOVE my S4 . Had the phone about a week now.

I thought the size would bother me and it doesn't but I carry a purse. It makes reading a document so much nicer. Camera is not exactly what I hoped for but I love everything else about the phone.

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Originally Posted by blueeyes

LOVE LOVE LOVE my S4 . Had the phone about a week now.

I thought the size would bother me and it doesn't but I carry a purse. It makes reading a document so much nicer. Camera is not exactly what I hoped for but I love everything else about the phone.

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S4 does run nice but I have tablets for reading big stuff ;) but I can see if I had a purse how it wouldn't be as annoyingly big.. but it just doesn't fit in my pockets very well.

I have an S3 and love it, there is no other phone I'd rather have.

Tap'n on my Galaxy G3

I think the verdict is in....Galaxy S3 will be what I'm looking for. I love you guys. You always make arriving to a decision easy. :lol8:

S3 owner.... you won't be disappointed. I love mine and I only know how to use about 7% of what it can do. :haha:

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Originally Posted by DOSS

S4 does run nice but I have tablets for reading big stuff ;) but I can see if I had a purse how it wouldn't be as annoyingly big.. but it just doesn't fit in my pockets very well.

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I have avoided the tablet craze. Way back when PDA's first hit the market I had a few and really liked them. This S4 is pretty much like that with phone and camera. It suits me. The S3 probably would have been fine but I kinda wanted to try the latest and greatest this go round. I do find the camera disappointing, very finicky. Enjoy all of the ways I can personalize it. Air gestures are annoying. I do like the smart stay, as long as I am looking at the screen the phone won't go into sleep mode. Very fast, I like that. One thing that I would really like to bitch about was all the crap apps they put on the phone that I will NEVER use and just wasted battery life. But I have disabled all of them and the fact that by the time they load all that shit on there your internal 16GB card now only has usable 8GB. I would rather have just the basics and then let me decide what and when I want it on my phone. Don't prepackage that crap.

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Originally Posted by blueeyes

I do find the camera disappointing, very finicky.

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It might be the app you don't like and not the camera. I had that issue with a phone. Try downloading and using a different camera app, you might find it's the app you dislike and not the camera.

FWIW: I like the app HDR Camera+ for my HDR camera app.

:popcorn:

I have had the s3 since it came out last year. It is a great phone and camera. I have been looking at the s4, but I don't like the camera. As far as size, the physical size of the s3 and s4 are the same. The s4 screen is slightly larger and it weighs less and it has a faster processor. I found a leather holster at tricked out accessories that clips onto my belt. I can't have a phone in my pocket, I would destroy it leaning on ladders, carrying heavy pipe etc during work.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

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Originally Posted by rockgremlin

I think the verdict is in....Galaxy S3 will be what I'm looking for. I love you guys. You always make arriving to a decision easy. :lol8:

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I have an S3 and I love it. But why wouldn't you get the S4 instead of the S3?

If you're disappointed with the camera, make sure you've gone through all of the settings such as image quality and speed, maybe you've missed something. But for still scenic shots, I haven't been let down by the HDR camera app

https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ence.hdr&hl=en

http://www.bogley.com/forum/attachme...9&d=1354823733

http://www.bogley.com/forum/attachme...0&d=1354823781

The phone takes good pictures but is slow, and some of the modes are touchy for example with Drama it has hard time detecting moving object. Pano this morning on my ride wouldn't take a pic of rising sun because it couldn't detect enough detail. The bar-code app won't work. I have played around with ALL of the settings on the current camera app. I will try the HDR camera app and see what I think. I just really liked the idea of drama mode and love the mode where you can take a pic with front and back camera and have it overlay like a stamp like this.

Attachment 66740

I guess all of the fun modes are just gimmicky. Great ideas, but if they don't work like they say....why bother!

The camera was really the deciding factor in getting this phone. I will get over my disappointment. In the meantime I will down load the HDR app.

@blueeyes- I am disappointed by your feedback, because in my mind this is supposed to be the best phone ever.You have the phone, and I don't. So I can only go off of what I have read, seen online, and my own S3 experience. I have the S3 and the camera has never been slow, but I have noticed a large improvement in picture quality over the last couple of months than when I first got the phone. I believe that Samsung must have updated the driver to make the camera work better for the S3, hopefully something similar is coming down the pipeline for the S4.

I have the S3, for a camera phone, the S3 is great. Here are some shots in hdr, native phone app http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/06/04/devebe8a.jpg http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/06/04/2atypasy.jpg

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

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Originally Posted by bigred72

I have the S3, for a camera phone, the S3 is great. Here are some shots in hdr, native phone app http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/06/04/2atypasy.jpg

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

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You take your phone into the canyon! Good lord mine would never come out alive!! I have killed two camera's in the canyons. One in Subway and last year I dropped my shockproof Fuji off the Mystery Springs rap. Well... the phone is not 100+ft shockproof in case anyone is wondering.

@DiscGo I hope you are right. I went into the store a month ago and was interested in the S3 but after they told me about the camera on the S4 I waited. Quality wise it is great for just a point and shoot. But play with some of the foofoo features and it doesn't work like I imagined. One other mode I like is the beauty shot. The group shot where you can pick the best face works so so. I played around with it and a group of my daughters friends. It wouldn't pick up every face in the group. At least one person each time I was not able to pic best face. As long as I leave it on 8MP it is faster, but there is a noticeable difference in speed when you kick it up to 13MP. I am not really looking to take any amazing shots that I will blow up with this camera so 8 is sufficient.

Again just little annoyance things. I will say could be operator issues. But I don't think so. Still over all I love it.

Chere, have you loaded it down with apps already by chance? How about the storage, is it running out of memory on a smaller, slower micro SD card? Try the Advanced Task Killer app, and see if that changes anything. Also see if you have the same types of problems after a fresh reboot of the phone.

The HDR camera app is great, but once again, it is NOT for moving objects, and you must be as still as possible when taking the shot for about 3-5 seconds.

Bogley.com can't even touch the quality and performance of iBogley.com

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Originally Posted by Sombeech

Chere, have you loaded it down with apps already by chance? How about the storage, is it running out of memory on a smaller, slower micro SD card? Try the Advanced Task Killer app, and see if that changes anything. Also see if you have the same types of problems after a fresh reboot of the phone.

The HDR camera app is great, but once again, it is NOT for moving objects, and you must be as still as possible when taking the shot for about 3-5 seconds.

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Maybe this app isn't for me. I will try it eventually see how I like and report back.

No I don't think I have it loaded down with apps. In fact I disabled most of what comes stock on this phone 48 to be exact which you cannot uninstall for example Yahoo News and Yahoo Finance I will never use them together they take up 68KB but no option to uninstall so they are disabled. Do you have a suggestion for that? Am I missing something? I learned a new term with this phone BLOATWARE.... ridiculous.

First thing I did was load Advanced Task Killer app which I have played around with the settings. Currently set to auto kill 30 seconds after I shut the screen off and regular kill every 15 minutes. Out of the 16 GB it comes with 8GB was used before I did anything. Currently have 6.46 GB available and 4GB SD card with 2.9 available. Have air gesture and air view turned off, keep GPS off unless using it, auto bright is enabled, and only use one home screen for my favorite apps.

And using Advanced Task Killer improved its battery life immensely!! I have used this app since my first smart phone. Awesome app.