An Apple Fan's Review of the G3

[overzeetop]

Thanks for the review. This will be my first Android device after 3 generations of iOS and a couple generations of WinMo before that (I don't churn mobile devices except when my carrier foots the bill for the upgrade). It makes me feel pretty good about my jump. My iPhone5 has regular app crashes (not ridiculous, but it's common enough), and I've noticed on iOS 7 that there is noticeable lag on screen changes - enough that certain apps almost always end up with me mis-pressing a command thinking the previous press hasn't registered. Everything you don't like either is already happening to me in iOS7 or is a part I'm not concerned with, so there's that at least.

That's interesting about the sound. I gotta say that the bottom headphone jack is awful, and I'm sad that the G3 has the same ergonomic faux pas. Still, I'll have to listen to both side by side. I use Westone UM3x buds so I get to hear exactly what the unit puts out (for good or bad).

 

[Jtshurtleff]

Good review JT!

Question for ya... Have you tried speakerphone? Is it okay? My girlfriend has the S4 at the moment but I think she'd love this phone.... It's just speakerphone is a huge thing for her. What are your thoughts?

Sent from my T-Mobile Note 3 using AC Forums.

Speaker phone is pretty Damn good. Better than most I would say.

 

[Almeuit]

Speaker phone is pretty Damn good. Better than most I would say.

Nice! That is definitely a good thing to hear .

Sent from my T-Mobile Note 3 using AC Forums.

 

[Gator352]

Nice! That is definitely a good thing to hear .

Sent from my T-Mobile Note 3 using AC Forums.

Yes. The Speakerphone is pretty good. It's surprisingly crisp and clear.

 

[Gator352]

Speaker phone is pretty Damn good. Better than most I would say.

Good comparison I would say.

I'm NOT an apple fan in the slightest. However, I did pick up an iPhone 5s for my son in May as a present if he passes his grade. He didn't so the iPhone went to my mom for the time being. I did though use it for a few weeks and here's my review:

While I found the 5s to be simple (set and forget), it just worked. It was smooth overall and was a good experience in that fact. But, it did micro-stutter here and there reminiscent of the GS4 when it was released. The G3 I have stutters as well and is annoying. It has no lag, but stutters nonetheless. After setting it up, I found it to be lacking in customizability which made it "boring" for me. Rows of icons just don't cut it for me either. Sure, I can dump icons in folders but that's about it.

The speaker was nice. It was loud, crisp clear. No complaints.

I'm a truck driver (and on Sprint) and I travel all over Florida and I found that the 5s in outlying areas to have a much weaker signal than any Android I've used...including the G3. It did however seem to get LTE in places where it shouldn't but it did and that was cool.

The screen was bright but small. Zooming in and out while browsing was a pain.

The apps, yes, seem more premium, but they all look the same except for it's content. Apple's made it to where there is no clear distinction between them. They all have the same menus and functions....to an extent....hard to explain....

All in all, the iPhone is great for people who don't care about customization. It works. It's smooth. But after talking with my teen son and daughter, my daughter prefers Android as she finds the 5s lacking and both had this to say:

"everyone has an iPhone." I asked why? They replied "because everyone else has an iPhone". This Leads me to believe that most kids get an iPhone because their friend has an iPhone. Status symbol if you ask me.

 

[Jtshurtleff]

It's also easier to use an iPhone with other people who have one. Messages don't have limits at all other than video size, pictures show up in full resolution as do videos, iMessage is far beyond hangouts. The ecosystem really is great. That's my biggest thing is I'm so sucked in.

 

[o4liberty]

The 5s is a nice device but way to small for me! If apple had made a larger device years ago they would of cornered the smartphone market.

 

[erwaso]

Good comparison I would say.

All in all, the iPhone is great for people who don't care about customization. It works. It's smooth. But after talking with my teen son and daughter, my daughter prefers Android as she finds the 5s lacking )

Which is why I still recommend it to the elderly and technologically handicapped, like my in laws lol. They love their easy to use iPhone 5s's!

 

[erinxia]

I thought the review was fair and this was really helpful since I also have both Apple and Android products. It's really great to hear input from an Apple user and I think it's fine if you were bias. You're used to the Apple interface more anyways.

Thanks for the review on the LG G3, I was really considering either getting this phone or the iPhone 6. I still want to know how the iOS 8 is like first.

 

[Relgoshan]

Let me start of first by saying I am an Apple guy, MacBook, iPad and usually and iPhone but every year or so I dip into Android, usually not for too long but it happens like clockwork. I have used the G3 for a week now and this is my initial review.

Hardware: The G3 is a beautiful device. The ultra thin bezels and huge screen go hand in hand and I actually like the placement of the buttons although I cannot say I used them much because of Knock code. The screen itself is beautiful, but when put next to a phone like the Galaxy S5 it doesn't quite measure up color wise. I like my headphone jack on the bottom because it is what I am used to so that was a plus for me and not having a door between me and the charging port was nice after my brief time with the S5. Having the ability to remove the battery was a nice touch and I enjoyed the plastic back on the phone.

Battery: Battery life was a mixed bag on the G3 for me. Two days during the weekend saw a 5 hour screen on time with almost 32 hours on the battery, but the rest of the days have been about 12 hours on the battery before needing a charge with only 3-4 hours screen on time and some light music streaming. Overall about the same as my iPhone 5s when comparing.

UI/Android: I will be one of the first to say Android as a whole is fantastic, but not without its quirks. Emoji support is a nice touch although I feel it is very poorly integrated compared to iOS. Getting to the emoji usually required an extra step compared to iOS or it was so choppy it was tough to use. The icons on the S5 were also way better than both iOS and LG. The overall UI is flat and coming from iOS it was familiar so I enjoyed it. The popup text messaging was really nice with the quick reply and I cannot wait to see what Apple's looks like in iOS8 once it finishes beta testing. Overall the UI was smooth in most places, but the app drawer always seemed to studder.

Sound quality: Playing music through the back speaker isn't terrible although I wish everyone, including Apple, would put the speakers on the front, HTC style. The music quality through the headphones was decent, though I must say I prefer Apple for all things music because of familiarity and to me the sound quality on Apple devices, at least through headphones, is better. This may be me just being biased though.

Apps: I will always say iOS apps run way more smoothly than Android apps. The Facebook and Twitter apps on Android are terrible compared to iOS as well as favorite apps of mine Sportscenter and MLB At Bat. They lag, crash often and in some cases look less polished. The Chase Bank app has not been updated in a few years on Android UI wise which leads me to believe that they, like other developers, pay less attention to Android development. Games on Android all seem about the same though and play a little better on higher end hardware. Android is catching up the iOS in app quality, they just aren't there yet to me.

Overall: I love the G3, but it has its quirks. Some of these quirks are related to the phone and its UI and some are related to Android as a whole. I will not be keeping my G3 and will instead return to Apple firm grip it has on me, but that doesn't mean my time with the dark side wasn't fun. Hopefully you guys see this review as partially biased, but fair and can appreciate the view from the other side of the fence from someone with experience with both platforms.

So what do you guys think? Feel free to sound off!

Hardware: Yep

Battery: Yep

UI: I really hope they did not mess up the emoji, my G Flex has 927 icons on the stock keyboard. Eesh. App drawers are about as likely to lag as the browser, with the way Android manages it assets and considering the high DPI.

Audio: Not sure on this front, certainly Apple has kept it a priority but many Android phones are right there at the iPhone's heel for headphones. Some junk models have more than 20dbm drop on the headphone jack tho.

Apps: iCan't is a big problem here. One really big detractor, and the one that keeps me away. Android has three factors against iOS. 1)Android compatibility is a bigger nightmare than programming for iOS. This results in binning apps to be tested on few devices, OR writing them as generic with slower performance and weaker graphics :/
2) Many apps are only possible on Android due to the Apple terms of service, but rooted vs jailbroken is a more level playing field. 3) Many iOS and Android apps are UNNECESSARY on Android, because there are improved multi purpose apps that take over various functions. But it also factors into popularity and common utility, if more phones are using your website than your app...DROP the app and do more mobile testing on the site.

 

[Jtshurtleff]

I thought the review was fair and this was really helpful since I also have both Apple and Android products. It's really great to hear input from an Apple user and I think it's fine if you were bias. You're used to the Apple interface more anyways.

Thanks for the review on the LG G3, I was really considering either getting this phone or the iPhone 6. I still want to know how the iOS 8 is like first.

From my experiences with the iOS 8 betas it rocks. The quick response for texts alone is enough to warrant the upgrade to iOS 8 and the features for major Apple fans with MacBooks and iPads are great for someone like me. Having Siri always listen like Google Now will be a good feature even if it was stolen from Google. Love the fact they're finally letting some customization in with keyboard, maybe it'll open the door up for more and they're doing the 3rd party widget thing too. I love it so far and it'll get better for sure when it's finished. Probably 8.0.2 or so will be nice and polished I would guess.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Relgoshan]

From my experiences with the iOS 8 betas it rocks. The quick response for texts alone is enough to warrant the upgrade to iOS 8 and the features for major Apple fans with MacBooks and iPads are great for someone like me. Having Siri always listen like Google Now will be a good feature even if it was stolen from Google. Love the fact they're finally letting some customization in with keyboard, maybe it'll open the door up for more and they're doing the 3rd party widget thing too. I love it so far and it'll get better for sure when it's finished. Probably 8.0.2 or so will be nice and polished I would guess.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sprint has a ghetto texting solution, a subscribed feature that lets you receive texts to your number on the PC. Sending out texts via the website is still free I think...