Trying to decide on a new phone

[A5]

If you want Android and are worried about battery life, the Razr Maxx HD is the hands-down choice. The reports on the DNA's battery life aren't great, but it would be really hard for me to resist that screen...

 

[Puddle Jumper]

I regularly use my SGS2 and iPhone 5 together. The iPhone 5 wins. It goes far past the first day. Not sure what you have to do to get it to 13% in one day. You'd have to do a lot of browsing. I sit on the toilet and browse at work and waste time and sit at a place with 0-1 bars where my SGS2 will die by 6pm, but my iPhone will sit at 50%. Sure i use my SGS2 a little more by using Whatsapp, but the iPhone 5 to me is a champ. On the weekends I let it go for 2 days and itll survive til Sunday night. I might be using my iPhone 5 pretty lightly, but there's no way with the same usage pattern my SGS2 will even do that well. Overnight it's a GIVEN my SGS2 will drain like 10-15% battery. The iPhone will do like 3% or something. It's ridiculous. I also turn off Twitter and Facebook notifications on my SGS2 while my iPhone goes nonstop all notifications on.

To be honest I think in standby, the iPhone 5 wins. It's when you start talking about regular use with the screen on that the Android phones catch up. Otherwise, the nature of Android phones to sync, pull data, works at a disadvantage. The difference becomes even wider when you deal with data congestion because your phone can easily eat up 2-3% an hour if it has trouble trying to connect. I think this is how my SGS2 will die in low reception areas because it probably tries to connect nonstop for hours before dying.

He isn't considering a SGS2 so how it stacks up against the iPhone 5 isn't relevant.

The Razr Maxx HD has the best battery life of any smartphone so if that is a priority it is the best choice by far.

 

[thespyder]

The ip5 is a lot better graphics-wsie compared to the gs3, I'd say it's better than the DNA as well. As for battery life I've owned both the ip5 and gs3 and the ip5 has far better battery life in my experience. I'm a pretty heavy user and the ip5 lasts me easily over a day, while the gs3 needed to be charged every night.

I am curious how you believe that the Ip5 is better graphics-wise than the GS3? The GS3 has a better screen resolution and a larger screen. And, if from what is being said above, power and download are comparable between the three devices, I would think that the GS3 has it all over Ip5?

Now, I know that there is some question about brightness for the DNA, but that, it would seem, is a separate issue entirely.

Just to clarify a few points. Yes, I am on Verizon.

Also, while I am concerned with battery life, I am not hugely concerned. I am not a heavy user. But with that being said, i don't want to tap out. My general usage pattern consists of about 30% calls, 40% emails and 30% web surfing/games/videos. And again, I would rate myself as light to moderate usage.

My research suggests that both the Iphone5 and the GS3 will have satisfactory battery life to meet my needs. As far as talk and standby, it looks like (based on numerous site comparisons) that the GS3 has significantly better battery in the realms of talk and standby. Not sure how accurate, but I am going to go with the benchmarks of Anandtech, Gizmondo and Cnet. Individual experiences may vary. At the end of the day, I would rate myself at normal usage. And am generally not away from a docking station for more than about 12 hours at a stretch. Plus I plan on having a power cord for my car, so....

About flash. I know that some web sites still use flash, so it is a concern. Although I gather that it isn't a huge concern. So that is new information to me. Thanks for that.

Regarding removable battery and SD card, these are not huge concerns on my radar. If the battery fails, I expect it to be under warantee. And I don't put enough on the phone such that I need to swap out the SD card. I can always download to my PC if need be. And I have a digital camera, so not really worried about running out of space due to photos. I understand this is a selling point. But don't think it impacts me that much.

I do want to thank everyone for chiming in. And I hope there is more information and more posts. Because all of this has been very informative. Thanks.

 

[Ne0]

I regularly use my SGS2 and iPhone 5 together. The iPhone 5 wins. It goes far past the first day. Not sure what you have to do to get it to 13% in one day. You'd have to do a lot of browsing. I sit on the toilet and browse at work and waste time and sit at a place with 0-1 bars where my SGS2 will die by 6pm, but my iPhone will sit at 50%. Sure i use my SGS2 a little more by using Whatsapp, but the iPhone 5 to me is a champ. On the weekends I let it go for 2 days and itll survive til Sunday night. I might be using my iPhone 5 pretty lightly, but there's no way with the same usage pattern my SGS2 will even do that well. Overnight it's a GIVEN my SGS2 will drain like 10-15% battery. The iPhone will do like 3% or something. It's ridiculous. I also turn off Twitter and Facebook notifications on my SGS2 while my iPhone goes nonstop all notifications on.

To be honest I think in standby, the iPhone 5 wins. It's when you start talking about regular use with the screen on that the Android phones catch up. Otherwise, the nature of Android phones to sync, pull data, works at a disadvantage. The difference becomes even wider when you deal with data congestion because your phone can easily eat up 2-3% an hour if it has trouble trying to connect. I think this is how my SGS2 will die in low reception areas because it probably tries to connect nonstop for hours before dying.

My note 2 is on business line (all my employees were switched over to T-mobile from Verizon), I use it for emails, phone calls, etc. My iPhone 5 is my personal line and I use it for text messages, phone calls. When I used both of them on my recent trip to North Carolina, I actually had my note 2 watching a portion of the Falcons / Cardinals game through my DirecTV Red Zone Channel app. The place I was staying didn't have the game on (it was Panthers / Bucs). I charged both phones to 100% last night and this morning when I woke up (no usage overnight on both phones), the Note 2 was at 99% and the iPhone 5 was at 97%. I used to have an iPhone 4 & iPhone 4s before the 5 on my personal line and the LTE speeds are great but it also drains battery a lot faster when I'm browsing web pages. On 3G I could browse numerous web pages over the course of 5-6 minutes and lose around 1-2% on my old phones but with the new phone it'll be 3-4%.

Then again, it could be just my phone but I'm not too impressed with the iPhone 5 battery life. Maybe because I've used iOS for the past 3-4 years instead of Android, the ecosystem of iOS feels a bit stale to me while Android feels fresh and new.

Giving away the iPhone 4 to a friend and will sell the iPhone 4s. Below picture taken when I first got the note 2 (the battery of the note 2 was almost the same size as the old iphones) :

 

[IGBT]

what's the cost of ownership on any of these devices for say a two year period?? How do they compare??

 

[thespyder]

what's the cost of ownership on any of these devices for say a two year period?? How do they compare??

All three devices run $199.99 with a 2 year contract (baring any holiday sales).

Ops, I lie. I just saw that the GS3 is selling for $49.99 at Best Buy on Black Friday. So... Maybe there is my decision.

 

[MrX8503]

I am curious how you believe that the Ip5 is better graphics-wise than the GS3? The GS3 has a better screen resolution and a larger screen. And, if from what is being said above, power and download are comparable between the three devices, I would think that the GS3 has it all over Ip5?

Now, I know that there is some question about brightness for the DNA, but that, it would seem, is a separate issue entirely.

Just to clarify a few points. Yes, I am on Verizon.

Also, while I am concerned with battery life, I am not hugely concerned. I am not a heavy user. But with that being said, i don't want to tap out. My general usage pattern consists of about 30% calls, 40% emails and 30% web surfing/games/videos. And again, I would rate myself as light to moderate usage.

I think what he meant was the GPU. The GPU in the iPhone is nearly as powerful as the iPad 3, which is in another league.

The screen is debatable and people have their preferences. Displaymate rated the iPhone 5 as having the best display.

Battery Life (Anandtech):

Wifi Browsing
iPhone 5 - 10.27
GS3 - 6.3
4hr difference

Cellular Browsing
iPhone 5 - 8.19
GS3 - 4.3
4 hr difference

Talk time
iPhone 5 - 8.75
GS3 - 10.48
2 hr difference

I'm not sure where you draw as the two having comparable battery life when the iPhone beats the GS3 2 out of 3 tests that matter and by a much larger margin. You'll be using data way more than talk time. The standby time by Samsung is skewed and not true to life.

As for CPU, nothing is faster than the A6 or S4 pro currently.

If you want a large screen with expandable storage then the GS3 is your option. If you want cutting edge hardware, the iPhone 5 or DNA would be it.