So on Friday, I sold my Iphone 4S . Came home and gave that news to my wife. She got thrilled. The only other time I saw her more ecstatic was when I said ‘Qubool hai’ to her some 16 years ago. Very next day she became the proud owner of a husband who owns Samsung lll.
I am not regretting that I ditched my Iphone and moved to Samsung Galaxy S lll. I am excited, but before I give my take on Galaxy, let me admit to couple of things.
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Iphone design and iOS is pretty much the same from last 5 years. In last 5 years I used (and still use) some half a dozen iOS products (Iphone, Ipads, Ipod) and they operate the same. To some, it might be boring. To me it was predictability, and I love predictability. I am the kind of guy who would rather go to the same restaurant again and again just because I like the food there, than to try a new restaurant. I would rather watch Terminator 2, 13[SUP]th[/SUP] time than to watch a Jean Claude Van Dame’s new movie. ‘
If it was not for the fact that my Iphone’s data plan was running at EDGE speed because it was not compatible with Tmobile’s network, I might still be carrying my iphone.
I loved the touch, feel, size and weight of my Iphone. iOS is so dead simple that my friends 2 years old daughter uses her dad’s ipad without any guidance. Yes it may not have the fanciness and bling of S lll, but I think that iOS devices are real family friendly devices. No one can convince me on that when comparing iOS with android.
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I am somewhat of a loyalist. I had the similar guilt when I switched from blackberry to Iphone, some 4 years ago.
Anyway., let me talk about the S lll and start with the down side.
I do not like the email syncing. Its not as smooth as Iphone’s. First, if you don’t have a known email domain (like gmail or yahoo), then it could give you a heartburn. I still could not figure out how to sync one of my email that has a private domain. Second is the confusion between Regular, Exchange and backup email accounts. I am not sure why Galaxy has these accounts sitting in three different places. In fact I don’t even see the need of backup account and why cant exchange Account be used as backup too. Also, if you use the same account twice (once for exchange and then again for backup), S lll will stupidly sync your contacts and calendar twice and then you will have 2 Joe Johnsons in your contact list and your calendar is repeating every entry twice. If I am using the same email address, S lll should be smart enough to realize that it’s the same email ID so should use only one set of calendar and contacts to sync.
I am getting used to the text input but hate the smarty pants text predictive feature of S lll. I know what I want to write, you don’t have to complete the word for me right after first 2 alphabets. Just leave me alone you jerk and highlight my completed misspelled word at the end. That is all I need. Not someone breathing over my shoulder, passing suggestions as I type every character.
I have not played with the device much to discover other things that I used to do with my iphone. (Playing music, recording voice notes/lectures).
Having said that, S lll is a great phone. The screen is amazingly vibrant, camera results are gorgeous, it is very light compared to its size, GPS is great, speaker phone is very loud and clear, customized widget display is very helpful. All the mentioned features are better than Iphone in comparison.
Last thing that I want to talk about is the ability to play flash content. I must confess that I forced myself to believe that we all can live without flash, but that is not true. Its very refreshing for me to use the S lll and Nexus 7 to visit websites with flash content and not to get an error notice.
All and all, it’s a fun phone. If you are not an Apple loyalist (and have tried Iphone already, as I think that every Smartphone user should experience Iphone at least once to appreciate the master widgetry of Steve Jobs) , then you should buy S lll.
So what is the bottom line comparison?
You can own a BMW, where even for a simple oil change, you need to go to a dealer, but you are happy because its BMW. You don’t want to change it from its original shape and form. You know that pride of owning that car is to keep it as original as you can.
Or you can own a VW beetle and color it bright green to reflect your taste, and chop the roof off, and extend the wheel base to make it longer, or convert it into a beach buggy.
That is how I compare Iphone and S lll (or any other android). Its not about which is better and which is not. It’s which one makes you feel happy because it compliments your own style and personality.
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