I don’t know too much about smartphones. The last one I have was an old flip phone that came with our plan. Now I’m upgrading but I don’t know what to get. So far, this is what I’ve come up with:
Use:
Mainly for going online, looking stuff up
Some limited gaming but I don’t plan on making this a full time game machine
Also used to replace camera so I’ll be taking videos and pictures. I’d want a large hard drive if possible
I’ll probably go on Google maps and Yelp a lot
I’ll learn how to text
What I know about the current phones:
iPhone:
I can talk to Siri, I think that might be fun
Apparently it has really good security (Apple standing up to the government) but I’m not paranoid so its not a huge concern for me
Do I still have to use Apple maps? I heard it sucks and I have no desire to change from Google maps
I have to buy a new wire to charge it, for earbuds, and you can’t change out the battery when it dies? WTF?
Also, I have no iPod to make compatible and have no desire to use iTunes
Galaxy S7:
Its big, really big. Looks cool, but might have trouble fitting in my pocket
Its waterproof now?
Its “Andoid” based, which I gather its running Chrome or some type of PC compatible operating system. I like PCs, so I’m familiar with that. But does it really matter on a phone? I’m not going to be single clicking on a big weird mouse so what does it really matter?
Is Cortana the Siri-equivalent? My uses for such a thing would be to try to have conversations with it and ask it weird questions. Does it come with the phone? Do I have to buy it?
Any help in deciding which I should get would be appreciated.
You don’t have to buy a new wire to charge it. It comes with a wire. The plug-in end is USB so you can plug it in to your computer to charge, or any existing charger that you have that is a female USB plug (I have several of them, plugged in to the wall and plugged in to my car). It also comes with earbuds or you can use any generic headphone set you want. You don’t need anything special, it’s a standard jack.
I personally use iTunes to manage my music and movies on my phone, but I also don’t use my phone’s music or movie capabilities much anymore. I am more likely to use Amazon Music to stream my Amazon music collection, or Netflix to play movies/TV.
My brother has had an iPhone for 3+ years and has never used iTunes. I think you could get by very well without iTunes, even if you want to play a lot of music. You just have to be willing to stream.
I can’t tell you which to get, though. I’ve only ever had an iPod/iPhone.
Sounds like pretty much any mid-range and above smartphone will meet your specifications. If money is not an issue, I recommend starting with an iPhone. The iOS ecosystem is more streamlined and hassle free and is a gentler introduction into smartphones. If at some point, you chafe under the One True Way that Apple has decided to do things, then maybe consider trying Android.
OTOH, if money is an issue, you don’t need a top tier smartphone and consider buying a mid-range android phone like the Moto G. They’re less than half the price of a top tier phone and work pretty much the same.
Alternatively, almost everyone I know has a friend who has a 2 or 3 year old phone rattling around somewhere, not being used. It’s worth putting some feelers out to see if you can borrow one to try out for a couple of weeks. It’ll give you a much better sense of what features are actually important to you.
I’ve had a long run of Android phones, and currently have an iPhone 6S, purchased last October, on which my thoughts are:
As far as apps go, for the most part there’s nothing you need to use the “Official Apple App” for; I have Chrome, Google Maps, YouTube, Google Drive, Amazon Video, Swype (which iOS didn’t have for a long time but now it does), Yelp, and I can even make calls via Google Voice.
I feel the 6S is just the right size. If it’s not big enough, you can get the 6S Plus; if you’d like it a little smaller, the iPhone SE is basically iPhone 6 guts crammed into an iPhone 5 case.
YMMV but I found Siri to be an amusing curiosity for about an hour or so, then I didn’t use it ever again.
Battery life has been excellent, no issues at all so far. Still lasts a full day+ on a full charge with regular use. Haven’t noticed any degeneration so far.
I recently transitioned to a smart phone. I choose an Android phone because there’s less restrictions.
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Apple is known for limiting what people can do on their products. Some people don’t mind. They use several Apple products. Mac’s,iPhones etc.
I’ve always used Windows and prefer the freedom to set things up like I want.
I bought a Motorola Moto X Pure in April. It’s cheaper than the Samsung. It’s unlocked and works with any carrier.
I’ve never owned an iPhone. To answer the Android specific questions:
Galaxy S7 isn’t very big, 5.61x2.74x0.31" (vs. iPhone 6S at 5.44x2.64x0.28"). You might be thinking of the S7 Edge, which is somewhat larger.
Both the S7 and S7 Edge are weaterproof (IP68 rated, i.e. can be submerged under 6 ft of water for 30 min)
Android is not a PC operating system. It was designed as a smartphone OS from the ground up (and later added support for larger tablets).
Cortana is a Microsoft service & app that recently became available on Android. I haven’t tried it yet. Android does come with Google Now as standard. Its voice interaction & hands-free features aren’t very powerful though.
Google Now is not just voice interactions, it’s pretty good at providing notifications based on past habits & e-mail content. For example, if I use my Gmail account to make airline reservations, Google Now would pop up a notification about it, and even pop up a notice saying I should leave for the airport in 15 minutes.
In general, I think the biggest advantage of Android over iPhone is the integration with Google services, if you use Gmail, Google Calendar, etc. If you don’t, and especially if you already use Apple’s services, you may be better off with an iPhone.
I use iCloud, which puts photos on iCloud.com within minutes (no cord needed). You can download any photo you want from there. When my system starts getting full I can download everything quite easily on to my PC in one fell swoop (or I could do this whenever I want) and then delete off my phone.
Moving from iPhone to PC via cord…I am not so sure how that is done, I’ve not had to do it
Oh, also most of the time I find myself not needing to go between iPhone and PC. I can put my photos where I want - Facebook or Twitter - without the PC.
On Android phones, you can say “OK Google” to access the voice activated helper that’s similar to Siri.
I love Android phones, and am not a fan of iPhones at all. I have the S7. It’s a bit of a disappointment to me. Samsung have their own Android interface, Touchwiz, and I feel they’ve made poor choices that compromise the Android user experience. My previous phone was an HTC and their implementation of Android was far superior. I think this will be the last Samsung phone I ever own.
I regret not waiting for this year’s Nexus phone release. The Nexus phones have Android as released by Google without any overlay or third party interface. My partner always goes for Nexus phones for that reason.
If you don’t need a huge phone, take a really good look at the iPhone SE. It’s a bit of an anomaly-- an affordable iPhone that doesn’t really sacrifice anything. I can’t figure out how Apple lets it exist or why a person would buy anything else.
There is no single answer here, it’s going to boil down to 20% your personal style and 80% just picking a side.
Yeah, I’m saving my pennies for an SE. I have small hands and never liked the bigger phones. The fact that it’s cheaper than their larger phones is kind of weird, given how expensive the iPhone 5s still are. But I want to do my part in encouraging Apple to see a market for a $399 phone.
My son just spent $ 300 to repair his iphone 6S. It cracked because he’s in food service management and puts it in his back pocket and stuff happens. It was in an otterbox case but that’ for impact drops and it will not protect against the phone getting torgued and pressed inside a large man’s back pocket. He will not do that again.
Recent larger phones are (IMO) far more subject to damage if you keep them in a pocket. He never had trouble with the iPhone 5s. If you are in an active job and keep the phone on you consider a smaller phone. A thin slab of screen glass can only take so much squeezing and twisting and as the screen on the phone gets larger the leverage pressure issue get more problematic.
S7 all the way for no other reason than expandable memory. That’s one thing that’s always driven me away from iphones as it seems to be just another excuse to ask for more money from the consumer.
iPhones have iOS as their operating system (OS) - lore linked to Apple products
iOS is more secure than Android (Android is what the GS7 runs on) yet also has more restrictions. On iOS you are best off using Safari as the other browsers are more restricted, whereas on Android you can use whatever browser you are used to, knowing they will be better than the stock internet browser.
Apps and games can be found on both OSes
Camera on both phones appear to be good, from what I have read up on.
iPhone will almost certainly use an Apple Mapping system, like Apple Maps - whereas Android, being based around Google, will use Google Maps for navigation.
If you’re upgrading from an ancient flip phone, you’ll need a new wire anyway. iPhones use a Lightning Cable (which is their own connector), whereas Android devices use either microUSB or USB-C (the vast majority, including the GS7, being microUSB) - meaning better compatibility and not needing to buy lots of cables.
Both phones use a standard 3.5mm aux output for headphones/earphones, though some equipment can be used with the Lightning connector on the iPhone.
Neither phone has a user replaceable battery - iPhones have never had removable batteries and the last Samsung phone to have a removable battery was a GS5
If you don’t want to use iTunes, then you might run into ifficulties on the iPhone? I can’t confirm whether you will run into problems or not (you should still be able to drag and drop files/folders using a PC), but Apple products are designed to work with Apple services, such as iTunes. The same goes for Android devices; Android devices work best with Google Services (such as Google Play, and Google Music, though you don’t have to use Google Music on an Android).
The Galaxy S7 is now waterproof, a feature that the GS5 used to have as well. It’s rated at 30 minutes at a depth of 1.5 meters.
Cortana is NOT used on Android - Cortana is used on Windows Mobile, which is a completely different operating system. The equivalent of Siri for Android is Google Now.
A few other points to bear in mind:
Android devices offer more flexibility - for example, installing apps from outside the Google Play Store, as well as customizing the home screen with widgets for the weather, clock etc.
The Samsung Galaxy S7 has a microSD card slot, so if you require more storage space, you can buy an additional SD card (up to 128GB, I think?) and instantly expand your phone’s storage. Great for if you are constantly using it for photos, videos, music storage etc. In terms of the iPhone, you can buy an iPhone with more internal storage, but it’ll be more expensive, and there’s no way to expend the storage. For example, if you buy a 32GB model, then realize you need more space, you’ll have to make do with the storage you have.
In the UK, the iPhone 6 and newer have access to 4G Calling, or Voice Over LTE. Android devices have to fall back to 3G for calls, unless bought from the mobile operator. (Don’t know how this works in the US, do any phone carriers in the US have 4G Calling?)
Modern Samsung devices (certainly the S4 and newer) tend to drop back to older network technologies far too early/aggressively. For example, my Samsung S4 will sometines go from 4G (LTE) to 2G (GSM), totally ignoring 3G (UMTS), which is still present in most locations. It can also drop from 3G to 2G too early, which is a pain for things like streaming radio stations/youtube etc. iPhones don’t do this, they cling on to the best technology available.
This is something to keep in mind. If you use Gmail and Google Calendar a lot, you may want to go Android (the Samsung) over iOS (the Apple). If you have a Mac, maybe you’d prefer the integration with an Apple phone.
You can use Google Maps on Apple. I have found that Apple can sometimes made maddening decisions promoting its own products - it favors Safari over Chrome for one, which I find annoying when trying to sign into something on a webpage through a Facebook login (Apple won’t let you do that unless you are on Safari - at least it wouldn’t on my iPad).
I have both operating systems - I have an iPad and a Google Nexus 6p. I prefer how Google does things.
You can use Google Maps with the iPhone. I use it exclusively. There is no need to use iTunes. Gmail and Gcal work fine as well- you just have to do a quick setup process for them.
