Help with smart phone decision

[bluecastle]

After using the same phone for the last 7 years I am finally graduating to a smart phone. My DD and I are going to go to the verizon store together-she already knows she wants an iPhone. (she has had an android for the last few years) I am trying to decide between an iphone and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. I know it seems silly, but is either one better for the WDW and Lines apps in the parks? My DH thinks I'm nuts making a decision about a phone based on 1 week's use this summer, but if there is a huge difference, that will influence my choice. Thanks for any advice and sharing of experiences you have had with using the apps in the parks with different smart phones.

 

[andysomma1]

The Disney Parks app by Verizon is great on both phones, but I would recommend the Nexus. I've sold both phones in the past and find the iphone to be much more restrictive. You cannot go wrong with either one though, so have fun.

 

[lilsk8nmac]

Personally, I love the iphone. I can do so much more with it that I havent been able to do with other smartphones. My DBF recently switched from Android to Iphone and he loves his iphone alot more than he did his droid.
The decision is definately yours, best of luck!

 

[bj21]

LOVE my iPhone.

 

[txnana]

Have to agree with most of the others, we are an I phone family - 9 in my immediate family and we all love them.

 

[bluecastle]

The Disney Parks app by Verizon is great on both phones, but I would recommend the Nexus. I've sold both phones in the past and find the iphone to be much more restrictive. You cannot go wrong with either one though, so have fun.

Thanks for your reply. What exactly do you mean by more restrictive? Is the basic difference between them using a touchscreen v. a keyboard, or are there other more important considerations? Thanks for your expertise!

 

[bluecastle]

Personally, I love the iphone. I can do so much more with it that I havent been able to do with other smartphones. My DBF recently switched from Android to Iphone and he loves his iphone alot more than he did his droid.
The decision is definately yours, best of luck!

Thanks! Can you tell me why your DBF likes the iPhone better than the Android? My DD told me that she prefers using a screen to a keyboard. I don't know how I am going to be able to tell which one I like better ahead of time! I guess I will play with them in the store and see what I like. I thought I had read somewhere that you have more or easier access to WDW apps on the iPhone, but a PP said they both worked fine in the parks. Thanks for any info!

 

[dgr1973]

I recently switched to the iphone and I love it! I had an android before and I liked it too but the iphone is very user friendly and I am sooo technologically challenged so its great for me! I also couldnt get the Disney Mobile Magic app with my android and I can with the iphone and its a really good app in my opinion.

 

[bluecastle]

I recently switched to the iphone and I love it! I had an android before and I liked it too but the iphone is very user friendly and I am sooo technologically challenged so its great for me! I also couldnt get the Disney Mobile Magic app with my android and I can with the iphone and its a really good app in my opinion.

Thanks! I know it's crazy, but like I said before, I really want something that is easy to use and where park apps will work when we are there. My DH is like, why have 3G when if you wait for awhile you can have 4G, but so far everyone I have asked has said the 3G is fine.

 

[Starclassic]

Another vote for iPhone.

 

[lindsmom]

My 2 cents - I have a samsung infuse and I love it. I moved from a flip phone - you know, standard for making phone calls and texting, that's about it. I had ZERO smart phone skills and have made the transition quite smoothly.

I love the huge screen - I have friends with iphones, and I feel spoiled with my "mini tv" screen. I don't carry a camera anymore, because I can take better pix with the infuse than I could with my point and click digital.

I have the wdw lines app from touring guides, and it seems to be working fine. Haven't tried it yet in parks - not until October - but I've been living vicariously through the app, "visiting" each of my favorite rides every so often

LOVE my samsung!

 

[bluecastle]

My 2 cents - I have a samsung infuse and I love it. I moved from a flip phone - you know, standard for making phone calls and texting, that's about it. I had ZERO smart phone skills and have made the transition quite smoothly.

I love the huge screen - I have friends with iphones, and I feel spoiled with my "mini tv" screen. I don't carry a camera anymore, because I can take better pix with the infuse than I could with my point and click digital.

I have the wdw lines app from touring guides, and it seems to be working fine. Haven't tried it yet in parks - not until October - but I've been living vicariously through the app, "visiting" each of my favorite rides every so often

LOVE my samsung!

Thanks for a different perspective. I have a feeling that when I play with the phones in the verizon store, that may be the deciding factor.
Thanks and keep those opinions coming. I wonder if I should have posted this as a poll....

 

[dgr1973]

Thanks! I know it's crazy, but like I said before, I really want something that is easy to use and where park apps will work when we are there. My DH is like, why have 3G when if you wait for awhile you can have 4G, but so far everyone I have asked has said the 3G is fine.

I believe the Iphone 4S is a 4G but I just have the 4 and to be honest its just as fast as my husband's 4G android.

 

[andysomma1]

Thanks for your reply. What exactly do you mean by more restrictive? Is the basic difference between them using a touchscreen v. a keyboard, or are there other more important considerations? Thanks for your expertise!

Sorry it's taken so long to get back to you. itunes is what I was referring to when I meant restrictive. Everything runs through itunes. Itunes I think can be a little confusing if you have never used it before. I have heard of people wanting to download one song from somebody elses itunes account and ended up downloading the whole library, nothing they could do. I don't have any experience with the cloud service so I cannot comment there but one major advantage that I love about the android is that when I get a new android phone all my contacts are instantly downloaded as soon as I enter my gmail account whether I'm on wifi or 3g. This can only be done over wifi with the iphone. This also works with whatever apps you are using. Facetime is also a great service with Apple products, but again it requires wifi. With Android you do not need to be hooked up to wifi to use similar services such as Tango, which is also available through the app market.

 

[Pixel Dust]

I believe the Iphone 4S is a 4G but I just have the 4 and to be honest its just as fast as my husband's 4G android.

The iPhone 4S is NOT a 4G phone. It's a common mistake to make.

iPhone will tend to be easier to use. If you want to customize how it looks or works it's very restrictive. The camera on the 4S is currently superior to any android camera out there today.

Android phones may be more difficult for some people to use but that is because it is less restrictive and easier to make customizations. For example, if don't like the default internet browser you can download a different one. There are hundreds of keyboards to download with different prediction algorithms. The apps tend to be cheaper than what Apple has in iTunes. The Galaxy Nexus's camera is faster shot after shot, but iPhone 4S still has the better image quality.

CNET has a great comparison:
http://cnettv.cnet.com/apple-iphone-4s-vs-samsung-galaxy-nexus-sprint/9742-1_53-50125644.html

In the end, both are great phones. It's up to you to find out which one better fits your needs.

 

[guitarob]

I'll reiterate the other posts, and throw in a couple of my own opinions here:

The iPhone is the model that all the others aspire to (for the most part). It's well built, feels solid in your hand, has the best smartphone camera on the market right now. It does everything very well right out of the box (Siri isn't as great as it's cracked up to be in their ads though), and the retina display is amazing. But, what some don't like, is that you're tied in to Apple's more restrictive ecosystem. They're tougher on what apps make it into the iTunes store, restrict your web browser choice (although mobile Safari is great), don't allow much customization, etc...

Some Android phones have bigger (not necessarily better) screens, more memory, can be cheaper, and have a much less restricted system. The problem that some have with Android is that you can do too much with it, therefore the learning curve is a lot steeper.

There are a lot of tech-blogs out there (like C-Net, mentioned above) that have comparisons.

I'm now a Windows-Phone user (I switched from an iPhone 4 to a Lumia 900, and that's a different can of worms) but if I were to be faced with the choice between the 4S and Galaxy Nexus, I would choose the 4S without a second thought given.

 

[andysomma1]

The camera on the 4S is currently superior to any android camera out there today.

I do not believe this is true. The shutter speed of the 4S is only .02 secs faster than the shutter on my Galaxy S II. They both have 8mp cameras and record in 1080p video. A huge drawback to the camera on the 4S is the battery usage. The iphone uses almost 1/3 more battery while in camera mode than my Galaxy S II does. Engadget released reports that after an afternoon of using the camera's on both phones and taking the same video's the iphone had only 33% battery life left while the Galaxy S II had closer to 60%.

 

[dontthrowsand]

Nm

 

[Pixel Dust]

I do not believe this is true. The shutter speed of the 4S is only .02 secs faster than the shutter on my Galaxy S II. They both have 8mp cameras and record in 1080p video. A huge drawback to the camera on the 4S is the battery usage. The iphone uses almost 1/3 more battery while in camera mode than my Galaxy S II does. Engadget released reports that after an afternoon of using the camera's on both phones and taking the same video's the iphone had only 33% battery life left while the Galaxy S II had closer to 60%.

I meant that statement more about the image quality. I agree with you that there are similar, if not better spec cameras on android phones. I'm excited to see what the SIII camera can do! Hopefully we get a full review on that phone soon.

P.S. I didn't mention before but I do have a Galaxy Nexus and I love it. Unlocked bootloader and rooted.