Okay, so obviously the hardware performance aspect of this goes to the S3. I know that, and I'm not looking to debate the hardware facts except for your opinions on a couple of those facts.
What I'm mainly looking at is the price difference, the fact that there will be no Nexus 4 on Verizon (not that I'm impressed with it enough to buy it anyways), the battery life and how much expandable batteries help without totally bulking the phone up, the camera quality, and the 16gb storage limit. I plan on rooting and doing all of the fun things that follow regardless of the choice, although I've heard you lose a lot of new exciting features on the S3 with custom ROMs (can anyone elaborate?).
First of all, the price. $49 vs $199. The price tag of the S3 is one that I CAN afford if that's the decision, but why spend $150 more than I have to if I end up liking the GNex also? I'm extremely happy with stock Android on my Nexus 7, and have never been a fan of TouchWiz while playing with any Samsung phone.
Now, I've been reading a lot of negativity about the Nexus being on Verizon. Slower-than-Google updates, oddities with LTE working properly, etc. Maybe not having the Nexus 4 on Verizon is a sign that it's just not a fit for the line of devices to be on this Network. How bad are the supposed issues that people are talking about with the phone on this network? How does the S3 work with LTE? Flawlessly as it should? Obviously updates haven't been huge yet for the S3, but it's still Samsung and they've also never been great with updates.
Next, the camera and lack of storage expansion on the Nexus. The camera, while only 5mp, was supposed to be very good for low-light settings (reported before the release, if I remember correctly), but nothing more than average otherwise. I will say right away that the camera (front-facing camera is irreverent) isn't make or break because I don't use it to capture species-ending historic moments, but I am curious of the quality people are seeing from it. How is the camera on the S3? Do those 3mp make a difference? I have a Thunderbolt now, and I'm pleased with the camera on that. As for the SD Card... I realize that Nexus devices are "supposed" to lack this, and it's completely normal for the storage not to be expandable. But I'm not a fan of the Cloud yet. I'm not convinced that relying on someone else to store my stuff is a reliable way of listening to music or watching videos, etc. I do have Google Music and that is an option (as opposed to putting 10gb of music physically on my phone), but I prefer for that to be a back up as opposed to my source of listening to music.
So I'm really just looking for all of your opinions on these things, as well as anything else you'd have to add. I have an upgrade available on Nov. 17th. Also, a little explanation of some of the new features on the S3 based on what you guys have been experiencing would be awesome.
Thanks!
What I'm mainly looking at is the price difference, the fact that there will be no Nexus 4 on Verizon (not that I'm impressed with it enough to buy it anyways), the battery life and how much expandable batteries help without totally bulking the phone up, the camera quality, and the 16gb storage limit. I plan on rooting and doing all of the fun things that follow regardless of the choice, although I've heard you lose a lot of new exciting features on the S3 with custom ROMs (can anyone elaborate?).
First of all, the price. $49 vs $199. The price tag of the S3 is one that I CAN afford if that's the decision, but why spend $150 more than I have to if I end up liking the GNex also? I'm extremely happy with stock Android on my Nexus 7, and have never been a fan of TouchWiz while playing with any Samsung phone.
Now, I've been reading a lot of negativity about the Nexus being on Verizon. Slower-than-Google updates, oddities with LTE working properly, etc. Maybe not having the Nexus 4 on Verizon is a sign that it's just not a fit for the line of devices to be on this Network. How bad are the supposed issues that people are talking about with the phone on this network? How does the S3 work with LTE? Flawlessly as it should? Obviously updates haven't been huge yet for the S3, but it's still Samsung and they've also never been great with updates.
Next, the camera and lack of storage expansion on the Nexus. The camera, while only 5mp, was supposed to be very good for low-light settings (reported before the release, if I remember correctly), but nothing more than average otherwise. I will say right away that the camera (front-facing camera is irreverent) isn't make or break because I don't use it to capture species-ending historic moments, but I am curious of the quality people are seeing from it. How is the camera on the S3? Do those 3mp make a difference? I have a Thunderbolt now, and I'm pleased with the camera on that. As for the SD Card... I realize that Nexus devices are "supposed" to lack this, and it's completely normal for the storage not to be expandable. But I'm not a fan of the Cloud yet. I'm not convinced that relying on someone else to store my stuff is a reliable way of listening to music or watching videos, etc. I do have Google Music and that is an option (as opposed to putting 10gb of music physically on my phone), but I prefer for that to be a back up as opposed to my source of listening to music.
So I'm really just looking for all of your opinions on these things, as well as anything else you'd have to add. I have an upgrade available on Nov. 17th. Also, a little explanation of some of the new features on the S3 based on what you guys have been experiencing would be awesome.
Thanks!