Upgrading - S3 vs. S4 and pricing

[MsRed]

I'm able to upgrade next month with VZW and currently have a Droid Bionic. I've seen a couple friends' S4s and they seem amazing, I've also had others with S3s say they love their phones. My company's rep was in today and I asked him about the two. He said for the $100 savings, he'd go with the S3. I'm not one to need the absolute latest thing, so the slightly faster processor isn't that big a deal. The better camera does make me lean towards S4. I'm curious what those here have experienced with theirs?

Secondly, while doing research, I found a CNET article from March that said AT&T is now selling S3s for $49.99 w/ a 2 yr contract. VZW has them for $99. Anyone know if Big Reg will price match? The rep said it's very unlikely either phone will get holiday pricing if I wait until my contract is due for renewal in December. Would you concur?

I've read here that VZW charges a $30 upgrade fee. I assume that's on any upgrade now?

Thanks all!

ETA: Another contributing factor is I have a 16% discount with VZW through my employer. So there's that...

 

[Aquila]

The one thing that would incline me to pay extra for the S4 over the S3 would be obsolescence. The S4 is likely to be supported with updates, fixes, etc and accessories for longer just by virtue of being a year newer and potentially a more popular device. As far as price matching goes, Verizon will in general never price match, however you can upgrade through other retailers as well, such as Target, Amazon.com, Best By, Costco and similar venues. Best Buy will price match the others under certain conditions. Be aware though, that some retailers have additional fees if you cancel service within a certain period (usually six months or so), on top of what Verizon charges, etc. Best Buy and Costco are confirmed not to have those fees. I'd shop around and I'd be shocked if you couldn't find an S3 for free or so during the upcoming months and an S4 in the 449-99 range pretty consistently... especially as we near fall and the additional competition of the HTC One, Galaxy Note 3 and Motorola devices, etc. force the S4's price down.

 

[Storm_75]

Hi MsRed!

You definitely need to shop around a bit... Verizon Wireless will be the most expensive option. They wanted $199 and wouldn't budge. I ended up at Best Buy, but they were offering a $50.00 gift card, redeemable immediately, off of their $199 price for the new S-4. I went with that and got it for $149.00. The advice to check Amazon is good counsel, I think they were at $169 and Wal-Mart was $168.

Buying from another vendor is no big deal, they just remote in to the VZW Web site and update your account, just as if you were dealing with VZW directly. Just to be sure I called VZW Customer Service the next day and the nice lady went over my entire plan and made sure all was well.

I had a DROID X2 for the last two years and the difference between it and the Galaxy S-4 is night and day... go with the S-4 but shop around.

Lets know which was you go!

 

[skipatrol]

I went from the Bionic to the S4. Didnt even think about the S3. If you really want the S3 get it at Walmart or Amazon. I think it's $30 or something like that. But despite his (or her) name, everything NothingisTrue said actually IS true. You're going to have this device for the next 2 years, personally I would want it to be supported for the duration of that time.

Also there is a noticeable difference in processor speed (my GF has the S3), battery life and camera, plus the camera has a few more options like animated pics (always fun if you have kids).

 

[singjai]

Even with the $100 dollar savings, I still went with the S4. Maybe because it's my first ever smart phone so I didn't really have anything to compare it to. The camera is also a lot better. If it's important to you, you might want to get the S4. Here's a photo comparing my friends S3 vs my S4.

She took the picture on her phone so I don't know how she did it. The low light seems off on her phone even though we were sitting across from each other.

 

[MsRed]

Wow, that is quite a difference. I do use my camera quite a bit for Instagram, good moments I'm having with friends, etc. So yeah, that weighs greatly in the S4's favor.

 

[rushmore]

I went from the S3 to the S4:

Though I thought the S3 display was good, it seems dull after using the S4 two days.

Camera even better

Faster overall

Worthy over the S3.