Galaxy S2 or The I phone 4

[Gus is god]

Why cant i vote for neither, i was looking to upgrade to the S2 but went to see it today, i dont like it at all, so looked at the IPhone cant say i like Iphones at all got given one used it for a few days but hated it, that said the 4looks very good.

I am going for the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc , looks quality phone have used it friend has one and the picture quality is unreal, i was very impressed im sure there will be features other phones has that this does not but i really liked this phone.

 

[beorhthelm]

Don't mention OS updates to the Android crowd, it's a bit of a sore point. One of the many symptoms of the 'best Android phone ever' syndrome which happens near weekly is that manufacturers largely don't give a toss about those poor souls who bought last month's 'best Android phone ever' and leave them to rot on old versions of Android. And they're stuck with it for the 18 or 24 months of the contract they are locked into...

thats a bit of an issue for the nerds isnt it? i think its great that Apple do enable and support upgrades to the new iOS, but for the vast majority of phone users i really dont see that its an issue. they wouldnt even care about the OS. its a bit of a throw back to the PC world that it should matter.

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

thats a bit of an issue for the nerds isnt it? i think its great that Apple do enable and support upgrades to the new iOS, but for the vast majority of phone users i really dont see that its an issue. they wouldnt even care about the OS. its a bit of a throw back to the PC world that it should matter.

Actually, the adoption of iOS 5 by users of compatible devices has been rapid.
iOS 5 adoption soars - IPHONETOUCH.BLORGE

I think the trend is actually the opposite of what you say. As the process becomes simpler, a higher proportion of consumers feel confident about tasks such as updating the OS of a phone or installing an application on a phone, whereas far fewer people were doing things like that, say, seven years ago.

 

[Deleted member 18477]

thats a bit of an issue for the nerds isnt it? i think its great that Apple do enable and support upgrades to the new iOS, but for the vast majority of phone users i really dont see that its an issue. they wouldnt even care about the OS. its a bit of a throw back to the PC world that it should matter.

Everyone loves an update. EVERYONE! iPhone users can do this by not purchasing the latest phone all the time. Other phone users can't. therefore what might seem like an expensive product works out pretty cost effective. If I didn't care about all the latest gadgets and OS's I'd still be rocking a bloody Nokia 3310! Anyone with a smartphone cares... Whether they admit it or not, they care!

 

[beorhthelm]

Actually, the adoption of iOS 5 by users of compatible devices has been rapid.
iOS 5 adoption soars - IPHONETOUCH.BLORGE

I think the trend is actually the opposite of what you say. As the process becomes simpler, a higher proportion of consumers feel confident about tasks such as updating the OS of a phone or installing an application on a phone, whereas far fewer people were doing things like that, say, seven years ago.

i dont say its not a nice feature, just that its not a consumers tick list. the fact you can do it and people take up the opportunity doesnt mean that its an important feature. do you care if you can update the software to your TV or DVR? sure you would if it was simple and free though. its a thing for techies to say they've got the last version of the software, most people just want stuff to work and if it works the same after 2 years thats job done. put simply, i'd be very surprised if even 1% of iphone users gave "future upgrades" as a reason for getting iphone over andriod.

Everyone loves an update. EVERYONE! iPhone users can do this by not purchasing the latest phone all the time.

as we can see with the record breaking first day uptake of the new iPhone. wait, theres lots of people upgrading from earlier iphones, rather than simply upgrading their OS.

 

[slinky]

HTC Sensation

Had Iphone, now i have an HTC Sensation, it is f***ing awesome!!

Same OS as the Galaxy...

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

Plenty of people with older iPhones are upgrading the OS.

 

[Mr deez]

Had Iphone, now i have an HTC Sensation, it is f***ing awesome!!

Same OS as the Galaxy...

Not big on HTC sense though. Touchwiz isn't great either but Samsung aren't so heavy handed in locking things down as HTC if you want to get rid of all the branded crap, bloatware etc.. Android is supposed to be an open platform, don't need HTC to then close the customisation options again. That's why I prefer Samsung.

 

[Mr deez]

Agree with the upgrade issue as well, don't get why keeping Android 4.0 exclusive on the upcoming Nexus does anyone favours when the S2 has been massively successful yet will be seen as out of date (despite still being the most powerful phone out there pretty much). Makes Android look a bit silly. That being said, as it is open, you (or certainly I will) be free to flash 4.0 as soon as the rom gets released, which won't be far off - but yes it's a faff that really shouldn't be necessary.

 

[Mr deez]

Why cant i vote for neither, i was looking to upgrade to the S2 but went to see it today, i dont like it at all, so looked at the IPhone cant say i like Iphones at all got given one used it for a few days but hated it, that said the 4looks very good.

I am going for the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc , looks quality phone have used it friend has one and the picture quality is unreal, i was very impressed im sure there will be features other phones has that this does not but i really liked this phone.

Agree, 'out the box' S2 is nothing special. Invest some time in getting it set up right (alternative launchers etc) and it's incredible. That's why I'd say if you're someone who likes to tinker, it's the one. If you just want a standard good experience from the word go, I phone it is.

 

[Sonic]

I always get what I consider to be the best smartphone for my needs at the time. For the last 2 years I've had the HTC HD2 which is a decent enough phone and well built, but sadly runs Window Mobile 6.5 which is no longer supported by Microsoft as they've replaced it with Windows Phone 7. Nokia got into bed with Microsoft in an attempt to regain some sort of position in the Smartphone market after their own Symbian OS failed. I think they are too far behind and iOS and Android are too well established for them to have a chance now. RIP Nokia. I know that the HD2 can have Android installed, but I'm not that confident to do it myself and have seen other people tinker around too much and end up with an expensive slimline brick.

I always swore that my next phone would be the next iphone (I wouldn't have touched the iphone 4), but when my contract expires in 3 weeks time, I'll be getting the Samsung Galaxy S2. Android has come on leaps and bounds, and whilst it has less apps than iphone, there's enough to satisfy my needs. The swype app for texting is amazing, and the speech to text method of texting also works like a dream. Also I believe that any smartphones running Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) will have the option of an official upgrade to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). Apparently there's something daft like 500,000 new Android devices (phone & tablets) activated in the world every day!

Another consideration could be the Samsung Galaxy Nexus which comes out in November. It features the best resolution of any of the 3 phones mentioned, comes with Android 4.0, and whilst it has a 5 megapixel camera compared to the 8 megapixel of the others, it has zero shutter lag which will appeal to some. As I use mine a lot for taking photos of my kids, I'll go for the 8 megapixels of the S2 rather than 5.

I've nothing against iphone unlike some, but I simply think that the S2 has the edge, and from reading on many websites it's frequently #1 on the list of Top 10 smartphones, even beating the iphone 4S.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

Not big on HTC sense though. Touchwiz isn't great either but Samsung aren't so heavy handed in locking things down as HTC if you want to get rid of all the branded crap, bloatware etc.. Android is supposed to be an open platform, don't need HTC to then close the customisation options again. That's why I prefer Samsung.

I use adw ex, cost about £1.50 and has all the customisation you can shake a stick at. Love it on my HTC Desire but i know it'd be even more awesome on a newer phone.

 

[Mr deez]

It features the best resolution of any of the 3 phones mentioned, comes with Android 4.0, and whilst it has a 5 megapixel camera compared to the 8 megapixel of the others, it has zero shutter lag which will appeal to some. .

Didn't know about the shutter lag. interesting. Don't really see 720p as being such an advantage though on a small screen, current res are good enough. Plus the Nexus and future phones really don't need to be any bigger - s2 is as big as they should go in my opinion, if you can't operate it comfortably one handed = too big.

 

[Mr deez]

I use adw ex, cost about £1.50 and has all the customisation you can shake a stick at. Love it on my HTC Desire but i know it'd be even more awesome on a newer phone.

Launcher Pro for me, much the same I would imagine.

 

[e77]

I did some testing on Smartphones and if you can do such a thing try and have a go on each one you are considering to see which you prefer.

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

I did some testing on Smartphones and if you can do such a thing try and have a go on each one you are considering to see which you prefer.

That's an interesting idea. Not saying it's a good way but I find myself ideologically opposed to Android in the same way some are ideologically opposed to Apple.

 

[e77]

That's an interesting idea. Not saying it's a good way but I find myself ideologically opposed to Android in the same way some are ideologically opposed to Apple.

If you favour one make you are probably going to stick to it (hence Nokia ruled the world for years) but if you haven't tried them I suspect you will know within 10 minutes which one is for you.

 

[Colossal Squid]

They're both very decent handsets, but you WILL pay more for the iPhone, and that extra money just buys you membership to the Apple club. In terms of features and performance there's next to no difference between the two handsets, so it just boils down to whether you're that enamoured with the Apple brand that you will pay extra for the shiny logo.

Android phones are an awful lot more customisable than the iPhone, and I like the fact that the homescreens on my HTC Desire S don't look like anyone else's and are tailored specifically to my needs and wants. But this is a personal preference thing.

For the record I use Go Launcher as my handset's "skin" and I'd certainly recommend it to any Android users. It's free and it looks fantastic

 

[brightonbozzo79]

I have had a SII now for a couple of months and it is truly amazing!! The brightness setting it has is in a class of its own. The quality of the camera and video is far better than the I Phone in my opinion. I have also dropped it 3 times on concrete now and only has a few scratches. I have witnessed 2 mates dropping there I Phones and 1 broke to bits and the other screen shattered.

 

[Gwylan]

IiOS (the iPhone operating system) is more user-friendly than Android, but you won't be able to do much in the way of customisation to the look/feel of the phone.

Don't do about that, that's slick Apple marketing that doesn't bear much relation to reality. I seem to have spent the best part of the last hour with Mrs G trying to help her to download an app. Since she's got an iPhone I do have to spend an inordinate amount of time as tech support for her.

On the other hand, my Android phone just works and is a piece of piss to use.

The iPhone does have a slicker UI, a longer battery life and more useful apps though. You pays your money and takes your choice.