Okay, initial impressions. After 5 years of the iPhone, I switched to the GS3 yesterday. First thoughts...its a completely different phone. Not necessarily better...not necessarily worse...just totally different. Getting the hang of it can be a bit frustrating, as the iPhone is perfectly laid out for you to use. That's the iPhone's strength...as well as its weakness. Its a weakness because its predictable and monotonous. I have an iPad. Having a smaller device that is basically a miniature version of an iPad became cumbersome. I use my iPad every day along with my iPhone. The combination of the two presents a very stale and unimaginative situation. That may be perfect for some and torture for others. For me, I just got bored, and decided to give an Android phone a shot. There is definitely a learning curve, specially for those that have been using iPhones for a good length of time. Not that its impossible to use, but you do need to play around with the phone quite a bit to really understand how it works. After roughly one day, I think I know what Im doing...and I love it. Having been on both sides of the fence...I can completely see how Android users can feel restricted and frustrated with iPhones...I can also see how iPhone users can feel unorganized, lost, and frustrated with Androids. The major thing that I absolutely love about the GS3 is the screen size compared to what I was used to with the iPhone. I didnt realize how much of a difference it is to get the screen size bumped up just a bit. Also, the phone weighs less...this is big for me...I usually have my phone in my scrub shirt pocket. With the iPhone, it would tug my shirt down noticeably, whereas with the GS3, I barely realize that it's there. Also, I am getting used to being able to customize everything on the phone...if I made the switch back to an iPhone, I can see how I may be annoyed at the cookie cutter system that Apple employs. But, again, it just depends on what you are looking for in a phone. I would highly recommend people use both phones before talking smack about the other. Both phones have their strengths and weaknesses...its just up to the individual to decide which works best for them. However, I would recommend that if you have an iPad, to go with an Android phone...as its almost useless to have both an iPad and an iPhone, unless you really, really love structure and confinement. So far, my experience with an Android phone has been superb. Im still learning and figuring my way around...but Ive been very pleased. For all of our sakes, I hope Apple can bring out an excellent product in the iPhone 5...the better the competition, the more we will all reap the rewards.
