Samsung Focus vs iPhone 4

Technology and Gaming
#1

In about a week I get my upgrade from AT&T, and I’m torn between getting the Samsung Focus and the iPhone 4. I’ve already done extensive research on them, but I’m still unsure which I should choose, being that on many counts they are quite similar, and the rest seems to be mainly preference. So I’m wondering if you guys can weigh in with some factual pros and cons on either phone. Price is not a factor, as it will be bought by my company. Here’s what I do with my iPhone 3G currently:

-texting a few times a day
-2 or 3 phone calls a day
-writing two to four sentences a day in notes
-alarm
-web browsing about 20-30 minutes a day
-take pictures maybe a few times a month
-maps a few times a month
-1 hotmail account, 1 exchange
-music on headphones half an hour or so every few days
-less than half a page of 3rd party apps, of which only 1 or 2 see usage more than once a month

As you can see, I’m not a real heavy-duty phone user. Things like multi-tasking and copy/paste hardly matter to me. I guess things more along my lines of concern are build quality, durability (how easy does it get scratched, break when dropped), support, call quality, etc. Your thoughts?

#2

I recently bought a Windows Phone from AT&T, although the HTC Surround instead of the Samsung Focus, and so far I’m not disappointed with my purchase. There are a few things you should keep in mind though:

  1. Being new, the store is greatly limited with the number of apps
  2. The phone uses Zune, so just be aware of your music. Most of mine was on iTunes for various convenience reasons, and I had to make a small purchase for a DRM removing software
  3. Currently no jail-breaks, and the only attempt so far didn’t work. Apparently there’s something in the OS that permits a jailbroken phone to identify it’s jailbroken and re-lock itself
  4. Some features are lacking. No custom ringtones is the obvious one for no real reason. I’ve heard there’s an update coming in the next month or two to address such issues, but they’re still issues.

Personally, I’m loving my Windows Phone and assuming the Focus’s key features aren’t drastically different than that of the Surround, the Focus should meet your needs just fine. Just keep in mind it’s a newer OS and is thus lacking in functionality and may on rare occasion act up. Also assuming the Focus doesn’t have any design issues.

#3

I vote samsung focus. I don’t know about durability, but Iphone’s biggest selling point is apps so if you’re not that into a massive app collection windows phone is probably the better choice. If you’re into music and videos, Windows Phone wins there. Zune software is better than itunes and the ui is geared more towards music and videos while iphone’s is geared towards apps. Oh and you’ll probably have to use a case if you go with the iphone 4 because of it’s antenna problems. Although Apple has better customer support.

#4

I personally try stay clear from any UI that is designed by Microsoft. They tried to create a fresh, hip and stylized UI for Windows Phone 7, but the result is just a mish mash of different visual elements that leaves a chaotic impression no matter where you are in the OS.

In terms of actual performance etc, Windows Phone 7 delivers and is finally on par with Android and iOS, so no complaints there.

Onwards to the actual phone. My past experience with Samsung have been absolutely horrible. The 3 Samsung phones I had all suffered from dead batteries a year or so after purchase, as well as having unresponsive buttons at times (volume, lock, quick-access keys).

Add to that the mediocre to bad customer service of Samsung (e.g. when the battery died of a €450 phone 15 months after purchase, they couldn’t provide a new battery because they had stopped production/orders for them. I had to get one from eBay (which died hardly half a year later as well), and you get a company I personally will never buy something from, ever again.

It’s pretty sad when comparing it to the quality and support of Apple. None of the portable devices I ever owned broke on their own. The only Apple device I ever owned that broke down, was an old iPod that had to fall down a concrete staircase in order to stop working (and it could still play music, it just couldn’t show anything on the screen).

But yes, for Windows users, the iPhone is less than ideal because of the terrible shape of iTunes on Windows. And as garthbartin said, the iPhone is very app-oriented, and if you don’t intend to use the phone as a timewaster for dead moments, having this wide range of apps seems pointless (I only have Angry Birds, Plants vs Zombies and Guitar Hero on my iPod).

All in all, I think you’d be more satisfied with the overal look, feel and quality of the iPhone.

#5

Apple is bullshit, I see more dead apple devices than any other piece of electronic equipment.

And don’t say it’s because of the popularity or the carelessness of my friends, I am talking proportionally to the amount of working devices.

#6

Grrr. I must make generic statements about anecdotal experiences while completely disregarding any and all statistic evidence to the contrary. Grrr.

Worth noting, however, is that according to that same article, the iPhone 4 is the least durable smartphone.

#7

Samsung Focus doesn’t have Infinity Blade

/thread

#8

AFAIK Android has been ported to many devices that run other OS by default. Don’t know about focus.

Also, kudos to samsung for the product page. The specs are very detailed.

#9

the ihpoen screen is cool and also you can break it w. your pocket/ play plants vs zombies

#10

To all those saying iPhone has better games, you’re totally right, but it has no goddamn buttons. If you want a real gaming solution, wait for PSP 2.

#11

Thanks for your input everyone. I guess now it’s mostly coming down to whether I want to try out a new OS or stick with a proven one I am already familiar with. I just have a question for you DinoThrasher, since you’ve switched from itunes to zune: was the music in your itunes store purchased from itunes? The reason I ask is, I have itunes right now myself since I have an iphone, but none of my music was purchased from the itunes store, its all been downloaded from other sites like Amazon or ripped from my CD collection. So I was just wondering if you had to get that DRM-removing software because music purchased from itunes has DRM or if itunes adds DRM to music it rips/indexes. I’m just concerned about the hassle and/or expense of switching to new software.

#12

The music was almost all purchased from iTunes. Anything I had downloaded as an mp3 from the internet or ripped from a disc in mp3 form remained in mp3 form in the iTunes music library folders.

If you’re music is already DRM free, you’ll have no problem switching to Zune. You’ll just have to select the folder all your music is stored in from the Zune settings page, and it will load everything almost instantly.

Some other opinion stuff about Zune:
There are a few things I’ve found about Zune that are a bit odd. Where-as iTunes would allow you to check or un-check music for when you pressed “Shuffle All”, I can’t find such an option. Short of making a playlist, I have to either shuffle all music or select by the presets such as Artist, Album, etc.

Also, when you go to purchase music it runs on Microsoft Points. Instead of letting you purchase exactly as much music as you have in your cart, it seems to round it up, I’m assuming to the next largest increment that Zune will let you purchase. I remember recently I had something around 4,860 points worth of music in my cart, and it made me purchase more like 6,000 points for $70 for no apparent reason.

However, the nice little player it minimizes into, the cleaner looking interface, and the fact that it runs smoothly on windows as opposed to the clunky iTunes makes up for it. I definitely like Zune better than iTunes.

#13

I recently bought a Samsung Focus and I absolutely love it. Combine it with ZunePass, and you’ve got yourself one hell of a phone. Other good points, you can get insurance for a Focus, whereas you can’t with any iPhone, so if you smash the living hell out of it like is inevitable for me, for 5 bucks a month, I only have to pay $125 for a new one, instead of full price for a new iPhone. Also, Apple is run by Satan.

#14

I’m not sure as I’ve never really looked into it, but I think you can tell it to only play liked music or to play everything but disliked music.

#15

Ah, true I think you can, but I feel weird disliking music I like simply because I only want it to play at certain times. Also, there isn’t an easy way to do that. I have it in the minimized player most of the time, and the only options there are ever “Play all Shuffled” and “Smart DJ”.

#16

Then I guess there’s nothing you can do about that.

#17

Fuck apple

thread over

#18

To those of you saying the PSP 2 has better games, you’re totally right, but it has no goddam keyboard. If you want a real gaming solution, get a desktop computer.

That’s…not correct at all. My friend got iPhone insurance and got a replacement when he lost it.

All iTunes music is DRM free.

#19

if you call your music being in random hidden folders without a proper file name DRM free, then yes

#20

real deal vs cheap knockoff, which is better?

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