A question

[cahn]

I may finally actually be entering the smartphone age, only years after everyone else!

So, the question that everyone else had to answer years ago: should I get an iPhone 5c or a Samsung Galaxy s4?

Major considerations: battery life, how well it acts as a phone, memory (Galaxy wins here!)

Medium considerations: app availability (I think Apple wins this one, plus both my parents and D's are hooked into Apple, plus I'm hooked in through my iPad), camera capability (it seems like the Galaxy has a better camera), size (Apple wins this one)

Completely minor considerations: iTunes (Android wins this one!), picking it up tomorrow vs. waiting for a week (...Galaxy wins here too!)

Anything I'm forgetting?

ETA 1-6 evening: Okay, we split the difference. I got a Galaxy S4, D (who didn't care either way) got the iPhone 5c. As far as I can tell from a couple of hours' worth of playing with them and tech support for my parents (who both got iPhone 5c's), this was absolutely the right choice on both parts, but we shall see.

Comments

[cahn]

Ahhhhh, this was super helpful!

That was a good point about the apps; I really don't use them very much. E uses more iPad apps than I do, because I have a couple of educational apps on it, but I think I'd like the phone to stay mostly for me, at least at this point.

*nods* I looked at the S5 and was very tempted, but in the end went for the cheaper option (S4) just because it's my first smartphone, and I don't have a stellar track record with not losing phones.

[thistleingrey]

*nods* Having an iPad and phone split isn't bad, also to be able to tell E for a few years that your phone isn't her idle-moments entertainment. :) Increasingly, since Apple is holding firm on screen size for the most part, devs do split phone and tablet apps for things involving graphics. (darkforge publishes text games for iOS and Android, so I hear a little beyond what I see personally.)

Fair enough! I hope it serves you well. Because the S3 did phenomenally well for Samsung, there's less casual and objective data about S4 contentment. :)

[cahn]

Ah, that makes sense -- even in the day I've been playing around I've seen that the form size difference does have an impact in how one interacts with the device.

On what you said before: I've also been finding that I do a lot better with the S4's keyboard than with the iPhone's. On the other hand, the iPhone is definitely a nicer size for pocket and hand fit.