I need all the Android Guru's on TE to weigh in on this one. Though i kind of have a few clear likes and dislikes on which 25k (MAX) droid i'd like to pick up.. I've almost narrowed it down to the current to workhorses.. the Google Nexus 4 vs the Galaxy S3.
Trouble is, my last experience with Android was in 2011 with the SGS II and to say the least.. it was kinda f*cked up.. partly cos i was one of the many who suffered from Samsung's deceptive crap and got the I9100G instead of the I9100. By the time i got rid of it.. the SII was well on it's way out of the race for top phone. Coupled with the fact that Samsung took AGES to release the ICS update for the SGS II and even longer for the G spec.. I pretty much swore I'd think twice before ever picking up a droid again.
Present day scenario - I moved back to the 4S and then in Dec'12 i got my iPhone 5. Unfortunately, I had to let it go in April, but I'm back at the point where i can pick up another 5 again.. however I don't think it makes sense to go with the 5 anymore considering we're approaching it's last quarter at the top & I think i've found Apple's obstinance of sticking to a sub 5' screen as wasted potential. So i figured i'd ride it out with a stop-gap phone .... and that HAS to be a droid because the 4S/4 have insane valuations considering their age.
Which brings us to my 2 horse dilema : Which one to go for in terms of outright long term advantages? Let me sum it up below:
1. Time frame for usage : This will be relatively long.. at least for 16 months going forward. (yup, I'm targeting iPhone 6)
2. Budget : 25k max
3. Open to 2nd hand phones? : Yes
4. GN4 Likes : Stock Droid experience, Direct Google update advantage, Screen quality, RAM, Build Quality, Design & Feel.
Dislikes : Non replaceable battery, Limited storage (though generally 16GB+drive/dropbox was ok for me on the iPhone), Camera optimisation, non expandable memory.
5. SGS 3 Likes: Great Camera, replaceable battery, expandable memory.
Dislikes : The Samsung experience, horrendous touchwiz UI, screen quality sucks/color reproduction, lesser RAM, plastic design n feel is utterly crappy for me (iPhone lover after all), update lags n support from Samsung.
While the hardware differentiators are quite clear between the two, I'd really appreciate it if any of the Droid guru's here can really help sum up the differences between the stock droid experience on the GN4 v/s the customisation and features offered by Samsung with their SGS 3's touchwiz.
Primarily what irks me are 3 things:
1. Support over the next 16 months for updates to Android & Key Lime Pie.
2. Battery life .. considering the GN 4 has no user replaceable battery
3. Memory storage/available memory & UI experience.
Does the GN4 offer enough to overcome the SGS3's customised enhancements or does the SGS 3 the best all round experience at the cost of limited future support & risking Samsung's whimsical update delays/support considering the GS3 has just one more year to go for official support?
Sincerely appreciate any thoughts from the experts here... keep in mind when it comes to droid.. I'm pretty much a noob at tinkering. Can't be arsed to root a droid either (or rather.. never did it before
)
Thanks!
Trouble is, my last experience with Android was in 2011 with the SGS II and to say the least.. it was kinda f*cked up.. partly cos i was one of the many who suffered from Samsung's deceptive crap and got the I9100G instead of the I9100. By the time i got rid of it.. the SII was well on it's way out of the race for top phone. Coupled with the fact that Samsung took AGES to release the ICS update for the SGS II and even longer for the G spec.. I pretty much swore I'd think twice before ever picking up a droid again.
Present day scenario - I moved back to the 4S and then in Dec'12 i got my iPhone 5. Unfortunately, I had to let it go in April, but I'm back at the point where i can pick up another 5 again.. however I don't think it makes sense to go with the 5 anymore considering we're approaching it's last quarter at the top & I think i've found Apple's obstinance of sticking to a sub 5' screen as wasted potential. So i figured i'd ride it out with a stop-gap phone .... and that HAS to be a droid because the 4S/4 have insane valuations considering their age.
Which brings us to my 2 horse dilema : Which one to go for in terms of outright long term advantages? Let me sum it up below:
1. Time frame for usage : This will be relatively long.. at least for 16 months going forward. (yup, I'm targeting iPhone 6)
2. Budget : 25k max
3. Open to 2nd hand phones? : Yes
4. GN4 Likes : Stock Droid experience, Direct Google update advantage, Screen quality, RAM, Build Quality, Design & Feel.
Dislikes : Non replaceable battery, Limited storage (though generally 16GB+drive/dropbox was ok for me on the iPhone), Camera optimisation, non expandable memory.
5. SGS 3 Likes: Great Camera, replaceable battery, expandable memory.
Dislikes : The Samsung experience, horrendous touchwiz UI, screen quality sucks/color reproduction, lesser RAM, plastic design n feel is utterly crappy for me (iPhone lover after all), update lags n support from Samsung.
While the hardware differentiators are quite clear between the two, I'd really appreciate it if any of the Droid guru's here can really help sum up the differences between the stock droid experience on the GN4 v/s the customisation and features offered by Samsung with their SGS 3's touchwiz.
Primarily what irks me are 3 things:
1. Support over the next 16 months for updates to Android & Key Lime Pie.
2. Battery life .. considering the GN 4 has no user replaceable battery
3. Memory storage/available memory & UI experience.
Does the GN4 offer enough to overcome the SGS3's customised enhancements or does the SGS 3 the best all round experience at the cost of limited future support & risking Samsung's whimsical update delays/support considering the GS3 has just one more year to go for official support?
Sincerely appreciate any thoughts from the experts here... keep in mind when it comes to droid.. I'm pretty much a noob at tinkering. Can't be arsed to root a droid either (or rather.. never did it before
)Thanks!
