IPhone vs. the competition need some advice
 

Here's my situation that I need some help with. My wife and I both own IPhones they are old ( 5 years ? ) but still work for what we do. Today we are having our home security upgraded to newer technology like touch screen vs. buttons and wireless. This upgrade can be monitored via smartphone and we feel this is a good a time as any to upgrade our phones. As a general rule we use our phones as a phone first, checking email second and minimal gaming and web surfing. We have been happy with our current phones but our youngest son has one of the latest LG phones and he was a previous IPhone user and he likes the LG better. Doing some internet research I kind of like the Samsung Galaxy S series due to user replaceable battery and mini SD card slot for extra memory. Really don't want a Apple bashing contest just feedback on what might be better for our situation. Our carrier is AT&T if that matters, we get a great corporate rate with them because of my work so going to stay with them.

The biggest issue I've had with the iPhone itself is the screen going dark issue. But a second issue is having to (try) to synch calendars and contacts through iTunes. In fact, I would say the biggest problem with iPhone is iTunes. I'm not Apple bashing, just relating my experiences with my iPhones.

Yup, the phones them selves are rock solid, but................

My wife and I both have LG Nitro HD's and they have been very solid phones. ICS is the highest ios you can run on it though.
I am thinking about the Samsung Galaxy NoteII. It's a large phone physically but that is one of the things I like about it. It also supports J.B.

In the end it is all a matter of what you want. I think android is ahead of apple in the apps/features market but you did say you use your phone as a phone so that really isn't much of an issue for you, until you really start using these new phones for what they are made to do, and phone calls are not the first thing they are designed to do.
I gotta say it , I detest I-Tunes, okay I am done apple bashing

Both my wife and I have iphones as well as our son and DIL. No complaints with any of our equipment and I don't have any issues with iTunes. We're basically all Apple equipment and staying that way. Guess we drank the cool aid. :D

I have no issues with syncing calendar, pics, notes or mail. My wife who is not techie really likes her phone but I do any updating for her.

I sync calendar and contacts via iCloud, wirelessly, and it is effortless. Never used iTunes for that purpose, don't see why you would.

Either the latest iPhone or the latest Galaxy will be a big improvement over your old iPhone (3G?).

I used my iPhone to monitor my alarm system now. The same app works with my iPad. I can turn the system on or off and see the video stream from cameras. It lets me see the system status and which doors and windows are opened or closed and when they were opened or closed.

I've switched back and forth with iphones. Right now I have a Galaxy S running Android 2.something. Old, I know. The biggest complaint has been how often it crashes. It comes and goes, but sometimes it's a couple of times a day. I've had to pull the battery a couple of times to reset it over the last year because it's crashed so hard.

Of course being cheap when it comes to phones for myself, I'll probably just end up with a somewhat newer Samsung at some point.

Phones.........
 

My wife and I both use the iPhone 4S which we bought almost the same time. She replaced a 'Droid Motorola and I replaced a Razor. Both of us have enjoyed using the 4S phones and have had almost no problems with them. The small issues that have cropped up have been resolved by updating the software, etc. While these are "only" 3G phones, we haven't noticed any speed issues. They are small, well built and feel solid in the hand. Our son now has an iPhone 5, but after looking at it and using it some haven't felt the need to change up. The battery charge life is fairly short and if used much at all needs to be recharged each night.

Upgraded from an IPhone 4 to 5 and there is little if any improvement. Actually, the 4 would send emails with attachments easily, the 5, not so much. Also, conference calling on 4 or 5 is literally nonfunctional. Cannot separate from one caller without hanging up on all. If those items are important to you, go with Samsung.

The OS on one of the computers I use doesn't support iCloud. It's still running 10.5 (I think).

I basically have one of everything for testing, but I use the iPhone and iPad more than anything else. They work, every time, no issues, the Android devices have cool features but I don't really use them, plus I hate giving up all my privacy when I use them.

If you need true multi-tasking or the extra features go with the latest Android OS/device. If you don't, go with an Apple device.

Don't even consider a Windows phone 8 as the AppStore is a ghost town

I actuall have both. The iPhone for work stuff, and the Galaxy s3 for personal.

They both have their merits. The S3 definitely does have better features and a nicer screen footprint. The beauty of the iPhone is the integration with other apple devices. Its simple and it works. I always despised them but the busier I get, the more I see the benefits to that.

Either way is going to work for you. Buy what you like with the plan you want.

Do you not have ATT / LTE in your area?

I ask because the 5 is stupid fast compared to the 4.

No joke I get 30x's faster speeds.

For the conference calling if the host, initiator drops out then of course so does everyone else.

To separate a participant they simply need to hang up and everyone else is still on the line.

I do it every day with no issues.

I sync email/calender/contacts with my google account. Offload pics with a usb cable. You only need itunes for music, and if you want to backup apps/music/text messages.... which I think can be backed up to 'cloud' but I haven't tried that yet.

wait for the 5s if you can....probably end of September???

bingo

You can also have your calendar in iCloud. I have no syncing issues. Ever.

The key reason to buy/use/stay with Apple is the iTunes ecosystem. If you don't take advantage of that, then there are other devices with individual feature advantages.

The pattern of consumer repurchasing has been that Android users are about 50/60% committed to staying with Android when they upgrade, while Apple users are about 80% inclined to stay with Apple.

Yep. I have a lifelong technology background and despise Apple's proprietary and closed ecosystem. That said, the advantage is that they can enforce consistent standards, interface, and interoperability. I resisted for a long time. Right now I have both IPhone and Ipad for work, and Galaxy3S and GalaxyTab 10.1 for personal.

I think the next major change for me may very well be dropping android. I'm starting to care less about my technical leanings and more about "just works".

I just came back from a visit to the local AT&T store. Looked over all the phones and narrowed it down to IPhone 4 or a LG Optimus G Pro. I really like the larger size of the LG but there is something to be said about reliability or as several have said " it just works ". I'm not in a rush so I need to get a little smarter before pulling the trigger. Thanks for all the feedback it is helpful.

The forking of Android versions, the non-existent supervision of the app store, the carriers' and OEMs' desire to overlay their own software, all are Bad Things for Android.