

Ask HN: iPhone 5 or Galaxy S4? - bgar

Looking for an upgrade, and after reading and watching a lot of comparisons, I still think it's very close between the two. Which one do you prefer and why?
======
yareally
If you want simplicity and are already invested in the ecosystem with other
products and such, you may prefer an iPhone. It will give you what you want if
all you need is a phone that always works, gets OS updates not on the whim of
the carrier and has lots of good apps. It may not be quite as configurable
(can't change the default browser and other default system apps) and modder
friendly as many Android devices, but that doesn't always matter to a lot of
people. I like messing around with the under-layers of the devices I use for
fun/learning, so I mostly have Android devices for my personal use.

If you want something you can hack around on without jailbreaking or paying
for a developer's account, compiling the OS source (via Cyanogenmod, AOSP or
others), change the default application for things like the browser, etc, then
the S4 might be what you want. One thing I can say about Android is that I've
seen it motivate and encourage quite a few people with no programming or
hacker experience beforehand to go out and learn how to compile the source for
their device, retheme it directly from the xml markup and pull up debug logs
to give proper bug reports to the developers they follow. There's a lot
childish behavior online and also in the Android modding communities, but it
always makes me feel a bit better when I think of the people I've helped learn
more about modding their device and how it works beyond what a typical user
would care about. There may be a trolls and some sterotypical "man-childs" on
XDA, rootwiki and other modding sites, but there's also many knowledgeable
people that are willing to share what they know to anyone.

I know I got off on a tangent there sorta, but anyways, back on subject...

If you want something that works without a lot of modding and bloat, opt for a
Nexus Device (either the Nexus 4 or the upcoming [though 600+ dollars] AOSP
Galaxy S4). While it can be nice, the Samsung (Touchwiz skinned) S4 is going
to have carrier bloat (a lot of useless junk) and could also have a locked
bootloader that cannot be unlocked (if you like to mod stuff). Nexus devices
are the closest Android equivalent to an iPhone as far as intended user
experience by the creator of each OS.

I've only played around with my friends and relative's iOS devices. I own a
handful of Android devices, mostly for development, but my primary phone is a
Galaxy Nexus. Don't recommend the Galaxy Nexus though (at least not the
Verizon Wireless LTE/CDMA Version [Toro]). Battery life is only 2-3 hours of
screen time for it and 8-12 hours of total use. That's enough for me, not not
for someone that uses their phone more heavily. The GSM variant is much better
than that though and the S4 battery life will blow either one out of the
water.

Honestly, it comes down to what you want, not what we can suggest. You don't
give much in the way of details and background about yourself.

~~~
bgar
Thanks for your detailed comment. I definitely think iOS is more polished and
has a better app selection than Android.

My biggest gripe with Apple devices is the closed-wall garden; I have no Apple
devices at home (the only one I've owned was a 3rd gen. iPod Touch) . As a
longtime Linux user, I don't see a lot of interoperability between the iPhone
and Linux. The S4 also has a removable battery and an SD card slot, which is
nice.

Also, thanks for the reminder about the Google Edition S4, might want to get
that over the current bloatware-filled one.

~~~
yareally
AOSP S4 would be what I would get (and will get depending on if the modem
chipsets support cdma/lte). After dealing with prior OEM devices and the ugly
hacks I had to do to root them and compile the source (as well as laggy
updates), I don't think I could ever deal with one again (though my experience
was based on Android <= 2.3). Devices you can unlock the bootloader to and
access the /data partition where the apps lie makes doing things like working
with sqlite super easy when you can just mount the Android device via sshfs
and go right to the app directory you're working on to change the sqlite db
without reinstalling the app. Not a thing most are aware of, but it makes life
so much easier that way for development.

If you are looking into development at all, Scala works well on Android if you
prefer something other than Java. I only moved to using it the last couple of
weeks (used C#/Mono and Java previously), but it's better than I thought it
would be. I got it working without any external building or extra plugins in
intellij idea as well (setup guide I put on github earlier today
[https://github.com/yareally/android-scala-intellij-no-sbt-
pl...](https://github.com/yareally/android-scala-intellij-no-sbt-plugin)).

I'm stuck on Verizon for now and torn between keeping unlimited data and
getting a newer device I won't hate. AOSP S4 is probably going to win me over
in the end though and the nice AMOLED screen it has.

------
tagabek
Well, that comes down to a very specific question: Do you like iOS or Android
better? If you are indifferent, what do you like/dislike about your current
phone? Also, if you're thinking about mobile development, go for the one
you'll be developing on. You will have a much better understanding of what
users want from their smartphone if you are a user yourself.

------
macarthy12
HTC One?

