It’s time again, time to put two flagship phones against each other and see which one is the better man well phone. This Phone War is a bit unique since we’re comparing devices from two different OS’. We’ve got the brand new Samsung Galaxy S4 on one side and the iPhone 5 with iOS 6 and crappy maps on the other. By now you should know the drill but in case you don’t, we compare specs, features, availability, pricing and everything in between. Breaking down the hardware and software of each device the choosing a winner. But we also let you get your picks in with the poll at the bottom and the comments below. So let’s get this started.
Specifications
Samsung Galaxy S4
The Galaxy S4 was announced earlier this month in New York City and featured a relatively similar design to the previous generation. Although it did bring some nice uprades like a full HD display, a bump in the camera bringing it to 13MP, along with bringing the latest version of Android. The Galaxy S4 is made out of plastic and does have those physical buttons, which I personally despise.
The software on the Galaxy S4 is a huge improvement over the Galaxy S3. For one it’s running Android 4.2.2, which is the first non-Nexus phone to launch with the latest version of Android. It’s also running their Touchwiz UI, which has a bunch of features that are seen as gimmicks and may or may not actually work. Like Smart Pause, S Voice, S Translate, Knox, and everything in between.
Pros:
- Full HD 5-inch Display; Take that Apple and your “Retina” display!
- Expandable storage and removable battery
- Running Current version of Android; What fragmentation?
Cons:
- Not running stock Android, still has Touchwiz
- Made of plastic, but most people won’t care about that
Apple iPhone 5
The iPhone 5. Well since this is an Android site, we don’t really cover the iPhone 5 at all. But we do know quite a bit about it since we do follow tech in general when looking for new stories. The iPhone 5 was announced last September and it grew half an inch. Yes, Apple finally ditched the 3.5-inch phone for a 4-inch model. Apple has also been touting their “Retina” display for about 3 years now. So it’s pretty outdated.
The software on the iPhone is iOS 6. When it first came out last fall, there were so many issues. The big one was that it got rid of Google’s YouTube and Maps app. Apple replaced Maps with their own Maps, which really were not on par with Google’s. Then the YouTube app became available in the App Store a bit later. Google Maps is also now in the App Store for our iPhone friends.
Pros:
- Simple interface
- “No fragmentation”
- One of the smaller smartphones out there
Cons:
- It’s an iPhone, need I say more?
- It’s relatively small, compared to other phones on the market
- It has Apple Maps, be careful you don’t drive off the road.
Winner
The decision was hard to pick a winner. Because we need to be unbiased, even though this is an Android site. But overall the Galaxy S4 is the better phone. Many many more features, larger/better display, better camera, and maps that actually work. I could go on and on about why the S4 is better than the iPhone 5, but we all know why it is.
So which phone would you choose?