Zer0's Smartphone War

Long time no see fellas.  

The new iPhone shows up today and I also wants to share my excitement on Apple's new flagship phone.

The release of the new iPhone gives Apple fanbois something to woo about after being miniscule to their Android partners for quite a long time.

Android fans might be non stoppingly jerking at how lousy and un-innovative the new iPhone is, how small it is comparing to the bigger screen rivals.  But to be exact, the market norm is 4.3 inch.  The new iPhone is not that far off with much better PPI.  Only the Samsung bandwagon is Hummer to smartphones.

iPhone 5 comes at the right time since I'm in line for a phone upgrade.  My iPhone [Legacy] still packs a lot of punch but it's really time to see a new shine after a sentimental 4+ years with my old iPhone.  Pity this poor Intel engineers that cannot afford upgrading his phone.  I've been saving a cent a day for this you know...

P/S: If you hate me for lining up for the new iPhone, feel free to donate a Galaxy S3 to me.  I'll gladly accept and probably talks some good things about Android.

Spec wise, it's pretty much compared here.

So here's my insight about my thought and consideration on either 5 or S3.
1) Internal hardware

Hardware wise, both are neck to neck and possibly equally powerful, offers similar features e.g. LTE, 1080p 30fps camera, similar storage offerings etc.  Since no one knows the spec for the A6 processor yet and there's no head to head benchmark scores, I'm giving this a tie.

Apple: 5
Samsung: 5


2) Screen
Many people will close this as a 10-0 win for Samsung but wait.  Just wait. The S3 uses Pentile Matrix in their display which causes the color to be less natural but Samsung being a leader in display panels really did a good job making the drawbacks of Pentile almost un-noticeable.

iPhone 5 boast a more complex screen that is capable of full sRGB rendering and at the same time thinner.  

Despite all the technology the fruit company puts in, many people still prefers a bigger screen.  I'm rating this in relative to market's average 4.3 inch.  Samsung offering is out of this world and Apple is stepping up it's game.

Apple: 3
Samsung: 7

3) Operating System
iOS is a very good OS.  But a jailbroken iOS is even better.  Good news is Apple has a whole team optimizing the one OS for one phone while cherry picking the cool features from the jailbreak community.  Their Android partner were not so lucky.  Android is a much more customize-able OS with tons of eye candies which makes it fancier compared to simple icon oriented iOS.  

While Android vendors tried hard to include all the nooks and crannies in their own version of Android (most of them really comes from the jailbreak community anyway), they're often un-optimized and really hurt end user experience e.g. Lenovo K800... la la la.  So no matter how flowery Google makes their Android, it's often destroyed by OEM's poor optimization.  And in case you still don't know, Android is really a malware magnet.  And I don't see Google even try to fix this.  So, sorry greenies.   


Apple: 9
Samsung: 1 (1 is a consolation point for Google effort to improve Android)

4) Intuitivity
Give both devices to a newbie and you'll know who's the clear winner.  But as Android advances, it's trying to match iOS's simplicity while Apple is trying to slot in more features making it a bit complicated compared to the iOS [Legacy].  As a tech savvy, I find both easy enough to use but Apple's flavor is still easier to accustomed with.
Apple: 6
Samsung: 4

5) Apps
Apple app store, awesome as always.  Google Play Store, shitty as always.  This is main reason I'm staying away from Android and sticking to my iPhone [Legacy] for so many years.  

Yes, the Play Store is going to overtake the App Store in sheer number of apps alone but really tons to those that makes up the number are either rip offs of the original title (like bejeweled) and they're just purely junk apps.  Literally junk!  The worst of all, the app you purchased for $9.99 might not even work properly on your Android device.  

A quick example, Popcap's famous Plants vs Zombies.  The ratings in Apple's store is >95% positive but when it goes to land of Android, it's broken left and right and 33% rates the game lowest.  And don't forget, Google's Play Store apps is also much more susceptible to malware attacks.  And once in a while, a mature XXX apps will pop up in top free/paid apps.  Imagine a kid browsing the store and found this out.
Apple: 10
Samsung: 0 (Shut up! Play Store is really minus 20 marks)

So out of 50 points, Apple won my review round with 33-17.  I might write another round after I actually get either of these but for I am damn poor you may have to wait for the next rant just a tad longer.  

Unless a ground up fixing of all the insecurity of Android platform and back to the drawing board redesign of the Play store, I am not going to show any love to the green robot.

So.... Android fans, bash now!