Why I May Keep My Galaxy S3 for 3 Years

In 2012, I was looking for a smartphone to upgrade to. It was either going to be the HTC One X, or the Samsung Galaxy S3 (AT&T). I chose the S3 due to the removable battery, better popularity (hence better forum support on XDA Developers), and the extra gig of RAM. At this point, I am eligible for an upgrade. However, I still may keep my S3 for possibly another year. Here's why.

Rooting my phone (come at me Samsung, my warranty is long gone anyway) may have been one of the best things that I have done to it. By putting Cyanogenmod on my device, I have removed all the bloatware, speeding up my phone. So now, I am getting better use out of the dual core, 1.5 Ghz processor.  While all the high-end Android phones on the market now have quad-core, I will say that the speed difference hasn't quite been enough alone to justify an upgrade.

RAM is another big thing. At the time of release, the US-spec S3 had 2 gigabytes of RAM, more than almost every other phone on the market. Many of today's high end phones still only have 2 gigabytes of RAM. The next phone I get must have at least 3 gigs, or else I will not deem it to be "justified".

As phones get older, batteries tend to suffer. Luckily, my phone has a removable battery, so when my battery finally stops working well enough (already happened), I can just buy a new one and replace it. Problem solved.

While I cannot replace the camera, I have found my camera (front and back) to be good enough (I even used it in a YouTube video). Infrared transmitter? I can deal without.

My plan is to basically fix up my phone so it will last. I'll unroot it, perform a full reset, then root it again to make it fresh. I'll definitely need a new battery, so I will have to buy one of those as well. My phone case isn't in the best condition, so I will have to replace that as well. Then suddenly, I will have a two year old smartphone ready for possibly another year of use, until a smartphone comes on the market that has enough of an internal upgrade for me to upgrade.  You readers may wonder if I am a guy who doesn't believe in upgrading because "it's a waste".  That is not me.  However, it just happens that phones haven't progressed quite enough to justify an upgrade for me.

P.S. My next phone may last me less than two years. With the white band spectrum (or whatever it's called) set to be utilized for the public thanks to the demise of analog TV signal, I would like a phone that receives better service quickly. And that could happen around 2017.

USB On The Go is One of My Favorite Android Features

One day, I had my friends over.  I had received my Galaxy S3 a week earlier, and I felt like showing my friends (who mostly own iPhones) a cool party trick.  So I downloaded a Sonic the Hedgehog game, got my PS3 controller along with the USB cable, and a cool male micro-usb to usb female.  I plugged it all in, and showed my friends how I was playing my Sonic game using my PS3.  They were all amazed.

What I just explained was a USB On The Go cable, or USB OTG for short.  It's a feature available on most Androids (chances are, if your phone is within 2 years old, you have it).  Essentially, it is a way to connect other peripherals to your Android.  USB mouse? Check.  PS3 or Xbox 360 controller? Check (I am not sure about the PS4 and Xbox One).  External hard drive?  Depends.  The phone powers whatever is plugged in, so not all hard drives will work.  Chances are, you'll need an externally powered hard drive with it.

In reality, it is mostly a show feature.  I have never replicated that game example other than that one time because I never need to.  However, I have found it to come in handy sometimes.  My  best use has been schooling-related.  Many times, it's easier for someone to proofread a paper in person.  So what I have done is finished a paper on my laptop, then saved it on a flash drive.  Then I'll take it out with me, plug my flash drive into my phone via USB OTG, and let my friend read it.  It's actually kind of neat.

The best part about this is that the cable is not expensive.  In fact, I picked mine up on Monoprice for $1.47 (without shipping).  You can get these things at similar prices elsewhere with free shipping.  I feel this would work best for tablet users who need a full sized USB port.  For those people, they have good options.  Instead of spending a lot extra on an Android tablet with a full USB port, they can get a cheaper device and spend just a few dollars on an important accessory.

And to think that a decade ago, plugging a flash drive into your cell phone seemed implausible.  Technology flies...

Dude, get an iPhone! NO, get an Android! It's not that simple.

First, here's a background on my smartphone life.

Smartphones rock.  Yes, I remember back when there were "dumb phones" in my house.  I'll never forget the Sprint Katana phone (that one was awesome).  Then Christmas of 2007 came around, and my father got the very first iPhone.  Soon after, my mother upgraded to the smartphone world.  Flash forward to 2010.  My father and mother got the iPhone 4, while I finally got a hand-me-down iPhone 3G.  Eventually, I got a Samsung Galaxy S3, making me the first (and so far only) person in my family to go to an Android.  Currently, there is an iPhone 5 and an iPhone 5S in the family, so I still know my iPhone stuff.

Now here's the relevant part of this post.

Android and iOS owners are always at each other's throat over which is better.  Let's set what is straight.  iOS is smooth and easy to use.  That is very true.  The phones from LG and Samsung are not as smooth as advertised, thanks to the bloated UIs.  Android tends to get cutting-edge features.  iOS now is usually playing catch-up (except for the fingerprint sensor). And to those of you Nexus owners who say that your phone is smooth, face it. iOS is simply more reliable. 

The manufacturers are (sort of) doing it wrong to pit their phones against each other. Apple and Google have one thing in common: they're both trying to compete for world domination. But in my opinion, I would only get an iPhone if I want little to no headache, and also for my social media. But I will say that I love my Android more. I still get all my social media (even though the Facebook app is awful and a great NSA spy tool). I get many features first (that iOS notification shade is something that dinosaur Androids have). And I also get some cool exclusive features like USB On the Go, highly compatible smartwatches, and NFC. For me, that is worth trading absolute reliability.

It's all a matter of preference.