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I Ditched My iPhone for a Samsung Galaxy S5 and Was Blown Away

Ken555

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Nice. Great example of the lack of respect and condescension that you refer to below.

My intention was clear and transparent. Sorry if you don't see that.



Do I think people buy phones on blind faith and/or advertising hype? Absolutely. Do I think Apple targets this type of consumer? Yep. Did I say you were one of these consumers? Nope. Go ask any 10 year old what kind of phone they want. They'll say iPhone. Do you think that's because they've heavily researched the features and judiciously ruled out other options, or because of advertising hype? Just typing this makes me laugh. :)

Now you're insinuating that those of us who prefer the iPhone make decisions like a 10-year old, though you try to exclude me from that group. Thanks.





I didn't imply that. I've said that others called you a "shill". I asked you to state your relationship with Apple. You implied I had a hidden agenda, remember? Otherwise, this wouldn't have come up.

Nice deflection.



Only in the same manner that I'd caution anyone buying anything that's so heavily advertised or hyped. I don't know about you, but when a company heavily advertises, it puts me on alert as to the underlying value of their product. I feel the same way about the Galaxy S5, for the record. Highly hyped. Message: Turn off the TV and do your own homework.

That's an interesting conclusion. So, should I avoid buying BMW, GM, or any other car manufacturers products because they also heavily advertise? What about cable companies, telecom providers, drug pharmacies, furniture stores, banks, or...almost any other industry? Just because they "heavily advertise" in my area doesn't necessarily inherently make me want to question the value of their product. Apple has a long history of providing excellent products that consistently receive high ratings by their users and independent reviewers. As a shareholder in the company, I would expect they would pursue whatever avenue they deem reasonable to increase sales and if that means they should "heavily advertise" then great!



I stated that Apple is behind and slowly adding features that Android has had for quite some time. Features that make Android easier to use. I stand by that.

Um...ok. Great! I hope these features make it to iOS, assuming they are relevant to the use of the iOS device.



For the record, I'll post how I want. You post how you want (and you should try better to adhere to your own guidelines). Not trying to be rude, but you don't get to dictate how I post. I've given far more examples of why I prefer Android than you have on why you prefer iOS.

This isn't the first time I've tried to encourage all of us to post particulars, and in response you've always tried to deflect by saying that I don't do what I suggest. Well, I have, just not in this thread. I don't think I need to list the number of features I think are great just to discuss the merits of features you think are important on Android. Note I've never said that Android is bad...I've just stated that my preference is for iOS. But I feel the need to respond when you post declaratory statements, as you did earlier in this thread, without balance. Only when challenged do you post, as you have before, that Apple makes a good product (though it's behind, etc etc). I prefer posts that are balanced.



From this comment of yours:



"Android also has a great system that works very well if you know what you're doing, want to spend time learning and customizing it, and generally like to tinker. If cost is the prime concern, then Android will appeal more, though there are iPhones available for quite low prices."



If you own an N5 you're being totally disingenuous when you make those type comments. The learning curve or amount of "tinkering" (??) required to use an N5 out of the box is virtually identical to that of an iPhone for someone who has never experienced either OS.

I didn't say I had a problem configuring my Nexus. I implied it was more difficult than my iPhone, and it is. It is not "identical". IIRC, you posted in previous threads that Android is perfect for the "tinkerer". Would you like me to find your posts that say that? ;)



Lastly, to imply that I have some hidden relationship or agenda is simply not even a reasonable assumption based on anything I've ever posted on TUG. I don't. I outright stated that the better Apple does, the better off I am. As an engineer, I look for the best solution at a reasonable price. I don't care who makes the hardware or the software, within reason. If you don't believe that, that's fine w/me. I won't lose sleep. ;)


I didn't imply that you have a hidden relationship. In fact, I said I didn't. But you like to twist words so don't let the facts stop you from writing whatever you like.

I think the "best solution at a reasonable price" is a great statement, and one which I agree with completely. Millions of people think the price for an iPhone is reasonable, because it is. And millions of people think the price for an Android phone is reasonable, because it is. iPhones are more expensive than Android phones. So what? Why does it bother you so much that others pay more than you think they should? Or, does it simply bother you that Apple is able to convince millions of people that their products are worth more than the competition? FYI, that's the hallmark of a great company.

Oh, and this might be a good time to remind everyone that Samsung lost money on their phone division last quarter. I know they're hoping for market share, but that isn't working either, at least in China according to the article below. I know that Apple is making a profit on every iPhone they sell, and that means that they will likely continue to research and develop additional features and versions, along with support the platform for years to come. The myriad of Android manufacturers don't all give me that sense of stability. Even Google, like Amazon, is likely not making a direct profit from the sale of the hardware. I'm not suggesting this should influence anyone's immediate purchase decision, but I think it's good to know.

After so much heavily advertising hype (!) from Samsung,
I'm surprised they aren't doing better. But then, they're not Apple. As an aside, I noticed recently that even Costco is again carrying Apple iOS devices...directly next to their Samsung display.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/donaldk...-stumble-profits-down-against-chinese-rivals/

Yonhap quoted analyst Lee Min-hee at I’Min Investment & Securities Co. as attributing the sagging profits to the somewhat disappointing response to the new Galaxy S5 since its introduction in March just as the second quarter was about to begin. Samsung shipped approximately 17 million units of Galaxy S5 in the second quarter as opposed to 20 million units of Galaxy S4 in its first three months, according to Yonhap.

Most discomfiting for Samsung, “Users’ loyalty to the brand has fallen significantly,” Lee told Yonhap. Moreover, for the third quarter of this year Galaxy S5 is likely to sell only 6 million units compared with 16 million units of the Galaxy S4 sold “over the similar period.”

Samsung still ranks overall ahead of the combined total of all five of its main Chinese rivals with a 26% market share compared with their 20%. For Samsung, however, that’s a stunning drop from its previous share of a minimum of 30%.
 

Clemson Fan

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Go ask any 10 year old what kind of phone they want. They'll say iPhone. Do you think that's because they've heavily researched the features and judiciously ruled out other options, or because of advertising hype? Just typing this makes me laugh. :)

Or maybe they see their parents and grandparents heavily using their iPhones and iPads and they want one too. There are a lot more reasons why somebody likes something and is loyal to it other then advertising. My first iphone was the first Apple product I ever bought. I never had a iPod, Mac or anything Apple before. It blew me away and I loved it. It was so much better then any other phone I had previously. They earned my loyalty by making such a great product. If the product was crappy and underwhelming it wouldn't matter how much advertising they did because I would move on to another phone. Advertising doesn't do anything to promote customer loyalty, making a great product and supporting it does and Apple probably has the best customer loyalty in the business.

Going back to my 3 kids all under the age of 10. They have access to my old iPad, an iPad mini, a Nexus 7 and a Samsung 7" Galaxy Tab. They're always fighting over the iPads and we probably haven't even powered on the Nexus or Samsung in about a month.
 

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I'm a very simple guy. I work in high tech, but I'm no technofile.

You make statements like this but then you later contradict yourself by stating you have several circuit patents in your name and you design chips for mobile phones. You are a technofile by the very definition.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/technophile

BTW, that's not an insult and is very admirable.

However, you're not an average consumer/user and you're not simple when it comes to tech. You do like something you can tinker with to meet your needs and tech specs and components are very important to you. That's fine and there's nothing wrong with that, but don't try to pass yourself off as a simple person and an average consumer because you're really not.

Apple appeals to the average consumer and you can't understand why because you're not an average consumer when it comes to tech. You're way above average, but that makes you more myopic as to why Apple and their products are so well accepted.
 

Ken555

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You make statements like this but then you later contradict yourself by stating you have several circuit patents in your name and you design chips for mobile phones. You are a technofile by the very definition.



http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/technophile



BTW, that's not an insult and is very admirable.



However, you're not an average consumer/user and you're not simple when it comes to tech. You do like something you can tinker with to meet your needs and tech specs and components are very important to you. That's fine and there's nothing wrong with that, but don't try to pass yourself off as a simple person and an average consumer because you're really not.



Apple appeals to the average consumer and you can't understand why because you're not an average consumer when it comes to tech. You're way above average, but that makes you more myopic as to why Apple and their products are so well accepted.


Well said.
 

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You make statements like this but then you later contradict yourself by stating you have several circuit patents in your name and you design chips for mobile phones. You are a technofile by the very definition.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/technophile

BTW, that's not an insult and is very admirable.

However, you're not an average consumer/user and you're not simple when it comes to tech. You do like something you can tinker with to meet your needs and tech specs and components are very important to you. That's fine and there's nothing wrong with that, but don't try to pass yourself off as a simple person and an average consumer because you're really not.

Apple appeals to the average consumer and you can't understand why because you're not an average consumer when it comes to tech. You're way above average, but that makes you more myopic as to why Apple and their products are so well accepted.

I think we need some context. With regard to understanding electronics, yes, I'm a "techie". With regard to smartphone usage, I'm not, unless one considers the ability to install common apps "techie" worthy. :shrug:

May seem like semantics, but you guys like to infer that Android's capabilities can only be exploited by someone with advanced technical smartphone knowledge, and that's simply not true. When it comes to using smartphones, I'm an educated consumer. Nothing more.

And CF, I don't know why you keep referring to my affinity for tech specs. Nowhere in this thread have I mentioned anything about specs. When I talk about advanced capabilities, I'm talking exclusively about the capabilities of the OS, not hardware. For the most part, once one gets around the $300 mark, the hardware's a wash. In fact, I'd argue that I'm far more ambivalent about the hardware than you are, in that I'd be more willing to buy an off-brand device. The only thing that matters to me is how good the phone is at simplifying my life.

I get Apple's appeal to the average consumer. But a lot of that appeal is legacy -- based on how the iPhone stacked up against Android phones of 4 to 5 years ago. Android was new, and like all new software had issues. Those issues were largely addressed by version 2.3 (Gingerbread). While Apple largely rested on their success, Android kept getting better, and consequently exploded to capture ~80% of the smartphone market.
 

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To take the cup is half full argument, Androids increasing market share is due to it growing faster than Apple, not to Apple's decline. This is sort of the desktop fight played out again. Android runs on any device, iOS is only on proprietary devices, so just like MS Windows did on the desktop, Android did on the mobile platform. It's not so much a quality issue as a availability issue, Android users have choices of devices, iOS users don't.
 

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I get Apple's appeal to the average consumer. But a lot of that appeal is legacy -- based on how the iPhone stacked up against Android phones of 4 to 5 years ago. Android was new, and like all new software had issues. Those issues were largely addressed by version 2.3 (Gingerbread). While Apple largely rested on their success, Android kept getting better, and consequently exploded to capture ~80% of the smartphone market.

I use both Android and iOS, and I agree with this. With no prior experience with either system, Mrs Mosca picked up one of the most advanced Android phones on the market and started using it.

That doesn't make iOS bad, but its claim to be more user friendly is more perception than reality. With either system, it's pretty simple, you load up your apps and touch the screen. Not much else to say.
 

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I use both Android and iOS, and I agree with this. With no prior experience with either system, Mrs Mosca picked up one of the most advanced Android phones on the market and started using it.

That doesn't make iOS bad, but its claim to be more user friendly is more perception than reality. With either system, it's pretty simple, you load up your apps and touch the screen. Not much else to say.

+1 We use both types between my wife and I, and I personally don't feel that either the iPhone or the Samsung S4 is any easier to use than the other. If there is a difference on ease of use, I think that difference is very minimal. However, Apple does have the reputation of being easier to learn, so everyone seems to focus on that. I'm not going to involved with a lengthy debate about it, it's just my personal opinion.
 

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So I bit the bullet and got DH the Samsung GalaxyS5. With most of the bells and whistles turned off, he's using it much like his old Droid X2.

The phone has an "easy" set up version, as well as a "standard" version. The easy version looked much like a Jitterbug, with few options. So I set it up standard and turned off a lot of stuff.

It really has the ability to do some very sophisticated things, much of which are unneeded by us and way above my heard.

We also got the wireless charging setup which is helpful considering DH's poor fine motor skills. Getting the charger into the port correctly was always a problem for him.
 

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I use both Android and iOS, and I agree with this. With no prior experience with either system, Mrs Mosca picked up one of the most advanced Android phones on the market and started using it.

That doesn't make iOS bad, but its claim to be more user friendly is more perception than reality. With either system, it's pretty simple, you load up your apps and touch the screen. Not much else to say.

Exactly. Those here that feel otherwise apparently aren't recognizing that they came from a different system to Android. I actually used an iOS device before I ever experienced Android, and I can say that the "out of the box" experience is equally easy on either. Nobody should base a buying decision on differences in out-of-box "ease of use" for doing the common things -- web, email, calls, texting, etc. Those functions are all just a single tap of an icon on either system.

Where Android shines, IME, is with it's ability to make more complex actions just as easy as those base actions. On my phone, when I swipe down the notification bar and tap my wife's picture, I have her on the phone. When I tap my daughters picture, I'm in Hangouts texting her. When I tap on the tether icon, my wifi shuts off and my hotspot goes active. I could put these actions on icons on the home screen, but putting them in the pull down notification bar is great because they're available from any screen, and I don't have to worry about accidentally invoking any of them. I use these types of functions many times a day. These benefits don't have anything to do with spec's, they're real world convenience. Best of all, these, and many other similar features too numerous to mention, are all available by simply installing a couple of apps.
 
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iPhone: "This is how it works."

Android phone: "How would you like it to work?"

If the first one irritates you, get an Android. If the second one irritates you, get an iPhone.

(For my money, I prefer iOS for tablets, and Android for smartphones.)
 
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