iPhone 5S vs. Samsung Galaxy S6 - What to buy?

[Gustiakas]

Hello, everyone,

I was a Samsung fan for about 5-6 years, but recently I've started to HATE IT. So my first smartphone was a tiny Samsung Galaxy Young. It was a really well-made one, but after two years it started to run out of internal memory (190 MB), started to feel laggy and I gave it up. So, I've decided to buy one of the newest Samsung inventions in the market - The Samsung Galaxy Core. That was a very new model, but for my big surprise it hasn't received any Android updates. It had a 1.0 GHz dual-core CPU and 1GB of RAM and Adreno 203 GPU. I thought it would run butter-smooth with these specs, but I was really wrong. The phone was, I can't say terrible, but it was bad. The games were laggy (not even talking about GTA or other intensive 3D games) and the Android performance wasn't good at all. The Galaxy young had 290 MB of RAM and about 230 MB of it was used when I sat at the home screen. The Galaxy Core had about 900 MB of RAM, but about 700 - 800 MB was used, when all the apps were closed. Then, a year before my mum gave me her 3 year-old Samsung Galaxy S2 Plus. It was running very smooth first. But now, it is really slow and lags very much (BAD!). I even tried to restore the factory setings, but that didn't help at all. So, these experiences made me think that Samsung can't make a phone, that would not start to lag after a year or two of use. And I can say, that I only have about 15 apps installed on my phone from Google Play. And the only apps that run in the background are Skype and Viber. I don't have Facebook, Snapchat or other social apps installed. So, that was a terrible experience with Samsung.

Today, I'm about to buy a new phone and I decided to move to iPhone with iOS. I really want the newer iPhone 6, but I can't afford it, so the only iPhone, I can go for is the 5S. But the newer Samsung Galaxy S6 costs about the same as the iPhone 5S. I want YOU to tell me. Should I go with the iPhone 5S or give a fourth chance to the Samsung and buy its newest flagship - the Galaxy S6. Many people say that even the Samsung S6 starts to lag and becomes terrible after few months of usage and that the S6 has an issue with RAM, or maybe Android Lollipop has that issue, that always, almost 80% of RAM is in use.

So what phone will not start to lag and will not become slow after a year or two of usage. Samsung Galaxy S6 or iPhone 5S?

I really need your advice to decide which phone to buy. I plan to use that phone for at least 3 years.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Marthinus Kotze1]

Looking at your post it looks like you have only owned lower end androids devices, which until this past year or two were known to suck. The Galaxy S6 is an amazing device, have a superior camera and in the day to day life better. The 5s is always a good phone, iOS, although limited is an amazing operating system once you get the hang of it. Apps and games run better on iOS.

I have owned both devices and I would gladly recommend the S6. The S6 has a far superior camera, a far better screen (QHD is sort of overrated but still amazingly.) 5s is dated (two generations behind) and is a very small device.

And if an android device run slow I usually use some cleaner app in the playstore to clear up some of those useless things that's making the phone run slow.

Oh an yeah the ram thing is there (androids fault) but you don't really really experience it that much......

 

[Gamingjunkie]

IMHO I'd say go with the iPhone if you are not a person who likes to "tinker" with technology. I have an S6 and have been able to make perform how I like but most people want something that works out if the box. Also, you get new updates with ios as soon as it's released.

 

[Ryan Wallace]

I've had my S6 for 7 months now and have never had issues with lag or slowdown ever. This phone is still blazing fast. I notice on this AC that people's experience will differ based on setup, but I use mine mainly for reddit, Web browsing (the stock browser is the smoothest I've used on any Android device, even a nexus), YouTube, and playing Asphalt 8 or one of my GBA or SNES emulators. Battery life last me easily up to 20 hours or more depending on what I'm doing (again usage will vary). I've never had any issues with RAM management except for a few apps that will reload after I open about 6 or 7 (hopefully fixed in marshmallow). But I've never had my music quit on me while using navigation or things like that. Camera and screen are far and away better than the 5S, and Samsung Pay is a real treat to use. The fingerprint sensor is quick and snappy too.

I didn't mean to type a whole novel, but don't base the S6 on experiences with much older hardware. Samsung has come a long way since most of the phones you've mentioned. Try the phone out in a store and see if you like it. I'm sure it will be a big step up from your previous Samsung devices.

 

[sydneycooper1979]

I think you will get better longevity and stability from the iphone. Also they hold their value much longer than the galaxys. However the stability means you have less customization and the camera is not as good on the 5S as it is on the Galaxy. Also you get pretty excellent customer service with apple that you do not get with samsung. That is something to think about since you want to keep the phone for a long time. Just my two cents

 

[anon(749368)]

If the price is the same, why buy an older device (iphone)? As many have said before, your experience with Samsung is based on low end devices... The S6 is top of the line and I've never had and issues with it

The panda has spoken

 

[CellTheUltimateAndroid]

Screw Samsung, buy a moto x pure, nexus 6p or lg g4. Those phones will definitely not lag in 2 years. Plus, g4 and x pure both have micro SD slots.

 

[williams448]

No way I would buy a 2 year old, 4 inch phone.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[dc52ltr]

Had my S6 since just after launch,amazing piece of kit,haven`t had a single problem,fabulous screen and mega quick.

 

[chezm]

The screen size of the 5S will drive you nuts, it's extremely small by today's standards. I got my wife a IPhone 6s for our anniversary, she had a 5S so a few days before selling it on kijiji I thought I'd give it a test run as I do like iOS. The screen size made things very difficult from typing to browsing the net...i just couldn't do it and sold it. If you were going for the iPhone 6 I'd say go ahead but 5s doesn't cut it in my books. Plus, 16gb wouldn't be enough you must get the 64gb model...so consider that too.

Posted via the Android Central App