Switching from Blackberry, questions.

[mojothehut]

Hey all,

So I'm looking to upgrade a two year old Blackberry Torch.
I'm really comfortable with the Blackberry OS, but alas, it's starting to show age. Web browsing is sluggish, having more than one app open at a time and I get long periods of freezing time. Frustrating =(

Now I'm looking at the iphone5 or Galaxy S3.
My uses will be pretty simple, web browsing&messaging mostly. I'm not familiar with either OS. I baby my phone so not worried about which one is built the most sturdy, in two years of owning this blackberry, never once dropped it, no scratches or anything =)

My question is, which one will be the best for light-to-moderate web-browsing, speaker phone usage and battery life.
I'm not a fanboy of either Android or Apple, just looking for simplistic and speedy performance.
Oh I'm on ATT if that makes a difference.

[bonkers325]

go to the store and test drive the phones. if all you do is simple stuff, any current smartphone will suffice. but the ip5 and gs3 are light years ahead of anything blackberry has to offer.

[Topweasel]

Originally Posted by mojothehut

Hey all,

So I'm looking to upgrade a two year old Blackberry Torch.
I'm really comfortable with the Blackberry OS, but alas, it's starting to show age. Web browsing is sluggish, having more than one app open at a time and I get long periods of freezing time. Frustrating =(

Now I'm looking at the iphone5 or Galaxy S3.
My uses will be pretty simple, web browsing&messaging mostly. I'm not familiar with either OS. I baby my phone so not worried about which one is built the most sturdy, in two years of owning this blackberry, never once dropped it, no scratches or anything =)

My question is, which one will be the best for light-to-moderate web-browsing, speaker phone usage and battery life.
I'm not a fanboy of either Android or Apple, just looking for simplistic and speedy performance.
Oh I'm on ATT if that makes a difference.

Light to moderate web browsing should be equal on most phones. Going up from there a Android or W8P would be superior in terms of Chrome and IE10 then Safari. Speakerphone probably the S3, though the 5 does seem to sound fine, know one knows on the Nokia 920 yet (I am bringing up all 3 flagship phones). Battery life would probably be the iphone, the 920 a close second by specs and previous knowledge of battery usage on 7.5, Android tends to allow the CPU to run at full speed longer and more often so if your not watching your apps battery life can decrease quicker then you expect. Android also uses more power when the screen is off.

Other things to note about the OS's. The Apple OS is the closest to the BB OS out there. Not saying this is a good thing. It means you have an icon based OS that unless you use the notification ability, you have to manually open the app to view information. Android is a Hybrid OS, it uses an Icon based system with the ability to use widgets (that will pull the information for quick viewing). This means you can for example go through your latest tweets or facebook posts without having to A.) Have your phone go off each time someone posts something. Or B.) Use more battery life to start the full application. Windows 8, uses live tiles. Icons basically that can be "alive" with information if the application supports it. I don't know if 8 still uses "hubs" which basically are tiles for similiar programs (like social Networking) that you can see latest posts from all the applications of that type without opening the apps.

[preslove]

Personally, I think the optimal mobile OS set up is to have an android for a phone and an iPad for a tablet.

Android gives you free turn by turn navigation, better maps, a comparable amount of apps to iOS, and free mobile hotspots (*most* android phones either come with a tethering app or allow you to download one).

iPads have a TON more tablet centric apps than android tablets. There really isn't much of comparison, whereas the gap is much smaller in the phone arena.

[boomhower]

Both OS's will easily do what you want. Watch some youtube vid's of the OS's and go to the store and play with them to see which you like better. Also the screen size differences are big and something to consider. This is just going to turn into another fanboy thread.

Keep in mind that until Google releases an iOS app Android has vastly better maps.

For the record I use an iPhone 5.

[bearxor]

Yeah, any current phone will more than suffice for you. Watch a shit ton of YouTube videos on the interface for each and try to think about how you will use the device.

I will agree tht iOS is going to be the closest to BB, but basically because its just going to function and do what it does out of the box with little to no work on your part. Android is more flexible and, because of that, can be more powerful if heavily customized towards the user.

If you do decide to go Android and since you're on AT&T, you might also want to seriously consider the Nexus 4. As far as I'm concerned, Nexus phones are the only Android devices I would even consider.

[MrX8503]

The iPhone 5 is faster at web browsing and has better battery life. The difference is marginal.

Hope that helps.

Originally Posted by preslove

Android gives you free turn by turn navigation.

iOS6 has free turn by turn too.

[bigrash]

Get the iPhone 5. It has the best mobile broswer imo.

[Oyeve]

If you want to see your webpages get the s3, if you want to squint get the ip5. I have both and cannot use the ip for browsing.

[Mopetar]

Originally Posted by bonkers325

go to the store and test drive the phones.

More people should do this and post some of their impressions before asking for more input. That way we can provide some more meaningful feedback.

"I tried device X, but am worried about Y. Can anyone speak more to that?" provides a much better starting point for recommendations and discussion.

[321.HAX]

Originally Posted by mojothehut

Hey all,

So I'm looking to upgrade a two year old Blackberry Torch.
I'm really comfortable with the Blackberry OS, but alas, it's starting to show age. Web browsing is sluggish, having more than one app open at a time and I get long periods of freezing time. Frustrating =(

Now I'm looking at the iphone5 or Galaxy S3.
My uses will be pretty simple, web browsing&messaging mostly. I'm not familiar with either OS. I baby my phone so not worried about which one is built the most sturdy, in two years of owning this blackberry, never once dropped it, no scratches or anything =)

My question is, which one will be the best for light-to-moderate web-browsing, speaker phone usage and battery life.
I'm not a fanboy of either Android or Apple, just looking for simplistic and speedy performance.
Oh I'm on ATT if that makes a difference.

I say go to a store and test drive both out. After all, you are the final deciding factor.

IMO though, I would go for the Galaxy SIII. Despite the fact that I am iphone user, the ip5 doesnt bring a lot to the table in terms of performance. However, since you are only using for messaging, browsing and the like, I can see both phones working well for you. I say again, try to go into a store and try them out. Some people might like the on screen keyboard on the ip5, and it might not be the same as you.

I can see that raw performance might not be a big factor for you. And the best think for you is to find the best "fitting" phone for you, in aesthetics and usability.

[ImDonly1]

Originally Posted by 321.HAX

I say go to a store and test drive both out. After all, you are the final deciding factor.

IMO though, I would go for the Galaxy SIII. Despite the fact that I am iphone user, the ip5 doesnt bring a lot to the table in terms of performance. However, since you are only using for messaging, browsing and the like, I can see both phones working well for you. I say again, try to go into a store and try them out. Some people might like the on screen keyboard on the ip5, and it might not be the same as you.

I can see that raw performance might not be a big factor for you. And the best think for you is to find the best "fitting" phone for you, in aesthetics and usability.

Not sure if serious. Not even an Apple fanboy but...
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6330/the-iphone-5-review
Explain. The iPhone 5 dominates all GPU benchmarks and sunspider etc. I can't find any tests anandtech did where the S3 beat the iPhone 5.

[321.HAX]

Originally Posted by ImDonly1

Not sure if serious. Not even an Apple fanboy but...
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6330/the-iphone-5-review
Explain. The iPhone 5 dominates all GPU benchmarks and sunspider etc. I can't find any tests anandtech did where the S3 beat the iPhone 5.

I guess the benchmarks are correct. However I am only basing my assumption from my customers, I sell these things at work. Honestly, both are great phones, just pick a good one that feels perfect for you and go. Personally, as an iPhone user, I like the usability of the S3 but the build quality of the iphones are great!

[MrX8503]

Originally Posted by 321.HAX

Despite the fact that I am iphone user, the ip5 doesnt bring a lot to the table in terms of performance.

Is that so?

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MqK8vBcU7Sk

The A6 is a beast.

[321.HAX]

Originally Posted by MrX8503

Is that so?

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MqK8vBcU7Sk

The A6 is a beast.

Again, they are both great phones. I have been using iphones since day one, and i have learned that no matter how fast the phone is on paper, it will be a different thing when it comes to the user. Androids provide a better user experience the IOS IMHO. iOS is still very limited for me despite the fact that it is on its 6th revision. And most of the stuff that they put on to the new OS's are just things that have been available to jailbreakers for a long time.

Hardware is only a part of it, but the software helps the overall user experience too!

*im pretty sure, some other guy will comment on this with another link to a benchmark* LOL

[MrX8503]

Well what you said earlier was false. UX is another matter.

[321.HAX]

Ok then.

[magomago]

Originally Posted by ImDonly1

Not sure if serious. Not even an Apple fanboy but...
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6330/the-iphone-5-review
Explain. The iPhone 5 dominates all GPU benchmarks and sunspider etc. I can't find any tests anandtech did where the S3 beat the iPhone 5.

I would never pick a phone based on software benchmarks. Talk about epeen.

Never used the S3 so I can't speak for it. But my friend's iphone5s are all buttery smooth and its never felt slow for me. If anything being caught in a LTE-dead zone is annyoing because it reminds you that 3g is slow as shit on verizon :p