Today's the day

[One Planer]

... That my mobile phone contract is due for renewal.

Looking at handsets at the minute andgthe only one that takes my fancy is the iPhone 5.

More than happy with my provider and service I get from them so the choice is down to the handset.

Anyone on the boards have one?

Any good?

 

[brendy]

Best advice I can offer is get your hands on the Iphone 5, Galaxy S3, HTC OneX and even the Galaxy Note 2 (it is large but really does everything well).
The Iphone 5 is quite light and feels very cheap, there have been forums reporting 50% of iphones supplied being flawed in some way too which is a big slap in the face for a company which markets their perfection. I have the Galaxy Note and while it is large, it is quite thin and I use a rubber case on the back to give it a little more substance as it is easier to grip with a rubbery surface. The S3 is nice as is the OneX so shoosing between them would be personal preference.
Dont just take an iphone though without holding it, it is very light and feels cheap, if you still like it then crack on as it doesnt bother some people.

 

[One Planer]

Best advice I can offer is get your hands on the Iphone 5, Galaxy S3, HTC OneX and even the Galaxy Note 2 (it is large but really does everything well).
The Iphone 5 is quite light and feels very cheap, there have been forums reporting 50% of iphones supplied being flawed in some way too which is a big slap in the face for a company which markets their perfection. I have the Galaxy Note and while it is large, it is quite thin and I use a rubber case on the back to give it a little more substance as it is easier to grip with a rubbery surface. The S3 is nice as is the OneX so shoosing between them would be personal preference.
Dont just take an iphone though without holding it, it is very light and feels cheap, if you still like it then crack on as it doesnt bother some people.

While very good handsets Brendy, I cannot abide Andriod OS.

Had a play with an S3. Found it too big (So probably rules the NOte out too) and the OS confusing.

I have HTC (HD7) at the minute, albeit Windows, but again if running Android, probably wont like it.

The iPhone 5 ticks all the boxes for me regarding size, OS, apps, build quality (Glass and aluminium as opposed to plastic) and screen clarity.

 

[chris661]

Had a play with an S3. Found it too big (So probably rules the NOte out too) and the OS confusing.

Having swapped from an iPhone to an S3 I think the S3 is twice the phone of the iPhone. There is an S3 "mini" due with it similar to the iPhone size.

 

[brendy]

No probs, as I said though, get one in your hand before deciding. The aluminium is anodised so be aware that it will mark very easily too. Android is an operating system that takes half an hour to learn and can be tweaked so much better to customise it to your liking. Apple has a very take it as there is no alternative attitude.

 

[One Planer]

No probs, as I said though, get one in your hand before deciding. The aluminium is anodised so be aware that it will mark very easily too. Android is an operating system that takes half an hour to learn and can be tweaked so much better to customise it to your liking. Apple has a very take it as there is no alternative attitude.

No doubt Brendy.

To be fair to Apple OS I like it. I have had a play with a friends 4s (running iOs6) and found it excellent, very intuitive and simple.

I have heard rumors of the black version of the Ip5 aluminium case wearing quickly as it is black anodized (Which will wear as its coated), which is why I'm having a white one :ears: as this is just brushed aluminium, no colouring.

 

[Khamelion]

iPhone for me all the way, I cannot stand the android OS, but that's just personal oppinion and as for windows phones, having Microsoft on my PC all and havng to suffer iat work, there is no way i would want it on my phone as well.

 

[brendy]

iPhone for me all the way, I cannot stand the android OS, but that's just personal oppinion and as for windows phones, having Microsoft on my PC all and havng to suffer iat work, there is no way i would want it on my phone as well.

Yea, its pretty much a given that windows phone os is poor. One of the biggest pluses for the android is the kies software, I can sit and type texts, check my call records, edit photos etc from my laptop without even having to touch my phone sat in my pocket. Android has a 2 way transfer facility where the iphone only allows you to take stuff off it from the pc, not add. Its all the wee things that make it better in my eyes.

 

[BTatHome]

Disagree with the windows phone comments. I love it, and will probably be changing for a lumia 920, or maybe htc 8x by the end of the year.

Btw watch out for those purple photos on the iPhone, apparently your holding it wrong again.

 

[StrangelyBrown]

Yea, its pretty much a given that windows phone os is poor. One of the biggest pluses for the android is the kies software, I can sit and type texts, check my call records, edit photos etc from my laptop without even having to touch my phone sat in my pocket. Android has a 2 way transfer facility where the iphone only allows you to take stuff off it from the pc, not add. Its all the wee things that make it better in my eyes.

Plus Android has no requirement for any proprietry software to carry out basic file transfers. My biggest annoyance with iStuff (apart from the trendy hipster image, the price and the poor build quality) is iTunes.

 

[One Planer]

Plus Android has no requirement for any proprietry software to carry out basic file transfers. My biggest annoyance with iStuff (apart from the trendy hipster image, the price and the poor build quality) is iTunes.

Question: When Andriod release a new OS do you have to connect the phone to a PC to download and install the updated OS?

 

[brendy]

Older versions did but now most hardware supports over the air upgrades.

 

[jimbob.someroo]

I got the iPhone 5 a few weeks ago and love it. Incredibly quick and easy to use and bucket loads of apps etc. I like the way it syncs with my iPad and laptop as well without faffing around with wires etc.

My general understanding is that you can get more out of the Galaxy and some of the other phones if you take the time and effort to set it up how you like but I really couldn't be bothered. I know I'm a little apple-biased but I've not had to plug it in to a computer / iPad once yet but still have access to everything I've ever downloaded on either device as well as my old iPhone 3 which is a bonus.

I think they're probably much of a muchness in terms of what you can/can't do. Have a play with a couple and see which you prefer the interface of.

 

[Warbur]

I made the switch from iphobe to the Samsung Galaxy S3 a few months back.

Whilst I'm happy with the phone the thing that lets it down for me is the quality of the apps when compared to apple.

Apple keep a very tight control of everything and this is reflected in the apps - they all do what they're supposed to. It seems to me that there are no such controls on android and many apps are released without being properly tested to make sure they do what they're meant to.

A classic example of this if the "your orange" app whereby you should be able to control magic numbers and view useage etc on all the phones on your account. On iphone this works very well but on andriod all I can see is the wife's useage and the app won't let me see any of the other phones - this is a common fault with this app.

If android got to grips with the apps then I'd be a true convert but as it currently stands I'll be going back to iphone at the end of the contract.

 

[BTatHome]

That's not just android. I've had plenty of apps on my ipad that flatly don't work/crash, even the high profile eBay app had serious issues recently that meant it wouldn't work after an update, you had to remove the app and then reinstall the app again (and entering your details again). Safari was useless for crashing until recently, always used to have problems with vbulletin forums.

 

[CMAC]

Just got The new 'Bond' Experia T and it's huge unfortunately, the other offerings like S3 etc are all bricks in comparison to the iPhone, yes it's lighter but isn't that a good thing, great screen and pretty good camera to boot.

I've sent back the 007 phone for an iPhone5, it's not perfect-what is?- but I know it's pretty reliable most of the time.........and..............I can make telephone calls on it too:lol:


P.S I cant stand iTunes on my PC nothing but issues and freezing but fortunately only have to do it a few times a year

 

[Warbur]

I've sent back the 007 phone for an iPhone5, it's not perfect-what is?- but I know it's pretty reliable most of the time.........and..............I can make telephone calls on it too:lol:

How very true - one man's heaven and all that.

Are we really that much better off than when we had Nokias that were just phones that did exactly what it said on the tin and the battery lasted for days on end!

Anyway, I digress from the OP. Which phone to go for is a very personal thing, as can be seen from the various posts. Although I gripe about the apps the rest of the phone is very good and the package worked out quite a bit less than the iphone alternative. Unfortunately you do pay a premium for apple products.

My perfect phone would be a mixture of the iphone and the S3 - each does certain things better than the other. It's just down to which overall package suits you best.