I've been an iPhone fan for a number of years and do believe that Apple
have been leading the market with their smartphone for a long time. But,
as is always the case, technology moves at a rapid pace and I was at
a point where I needed to renew my mobile phone contract and look at
getting a new phone. This got me re-assessing the iPhone as the phone of
choice. The negatives of staying with the iPhone were that the iPhone 5
had a new connector (requiring me to change my iPhone accessories) and I
just didn't like the long and skinny look of the new iPhone. On top of
that I thought that the glass front and back cover were liabilities as
they made it heavy and required replacing, at significant cost, whenever
they cracked (and this happened too often, despite using a protective
case). With the iPhone 5 the cost of replacement screen is even higher
with estimates of over $300.
I had been admiring the
Samsung Galaxy range phones (which run Google's Android operating
System) as I liked the look and feel, light durable plastic cases and
large screens. The only challenge was to move out of
the Apple ecosystem for my apps, calendars and email. I decided it was
worth the challenge and so I purchased the Samsung Galaxy S3. I am very
happy with this phone as it does everything I need. I had to learn how
to do a few things differently, but essentially
the same functionality existed, in fact the Galaxy has
more flexibility than the iPhone in terms of customisation. From an apps
perspective I have found all the equivalent apps I was using on my
iPhone. The biggest challenge was getting my existing iCloud contacts
and calendars to work with the Android system. After a few failed
attempts this I found recommendations for 2 apps that allowed for
synchronisation between iCloud (Apple) Calendars and Contacts and the
Android system. The apps are called SmoothSync for Cloud Calendars and SmoothSync for Cloud Contacts.
For a little over $5 I now have seamless access to contacts and
calendars between my iPad and Android phone. There is no need to
manually export and import these items, the synchronisation just
takes place automatically.
Overall I am very happy with
the Galaxy S3 and the Android OS. The only complaint would be the
battery can drain a lot quicker due to the larger screen size,
but there are ways of managing this so you can get a full day without
recharging. If Apple allowed their iOS to be used on other vendors'
hardware I would probably have stuck with it, but on balance the move
was worthwhile. Note that the Samsung Galaxy S4 has just been announced
and will likely be in the shops over the next couple of months, so keep a
check at your favourite retailer if you're considering a new phone. | 
