Should you trade your Android in for an iPhone?

Unless you’ve been living under a rock these past few months, you’ll be aware that Apple has launched their iPhone 5 with all the usual hype. Rocking a number of changes yet retaining its inimitable iPhone style, it has unsurprisingly won many admirers and kept the Apple disciples happy.

But if you are an Android user, is this Apple handset going to be able change your mind and lure you away from what Google has to offer? Read on to see what’s what.

The iPhone 5

Apple’s new handset set sales records even before it was released. More than 2 million people pre-ordered the phone within 24 hours of its unveiling, twice as many as those that put their name down for the iPhone 4S.

So why the popularity? Unquestionably, it has plenty going for it. Apple once again delivered a beautifully designed piece of kit, and combined it with a longer screen that was better suited to video and a brilliant camera.

But there are some mutterings that the popularity of the new phone is due to the disappointing outing of the iPhone 4S causing Apple fans to wait another year to upgrade.

And despite its looks, speed and peerless usability, the iPhone 5 didn’t hit it out the park in every aspect either. The appalling Maps app attracting a slew of adverse publicity, while the lack of ground-breaking developments had many questioning the sky-high cost.

Best Android options

Android users have been praising the virtues of the best Samsung and HTC handsets for well over 2 years now, and these manufacturer offerings are considerably cheaper than the iPhone 5 whilst being wholly more powerful at the same time. These can also be even more affordable if you trade in an old mobile phone or get rid of an older phone and sell samsung tocco lite, a handset which is now aged and not considered that great in this day and age. Following on from our iPhone 5 alternatives list, then, find below four handsets worth your time and money:

Google Nexus 4

What mini-list would not be complete without including a handset which has set a new benchmark for OEM’s to catch up to. This handset boasts a 4.7-inch True HD IPS display at a resolution of 1280 x 768 with 320ppi, inside you will find a 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core processor and what’s more the handset will ship with Android 4.2 (the VERY latest version) upon becoming available. The best part? It costs just  £239 for the 8GB model, and £269 for 16GB model. Now who said awesome features had to be expensive (a la iPhone 5)?

Samsung Galaxy Note II

For those with gigantic hands or the lust for a display which destroys all others, the Galaxy Note II is an extremely tempting handset. It features an amazing 5.5-inch HD Super AMOLED display at a resolution of 1,280 x 720 and this thing is really quick, sporting a 1.6 GHz quad-core processor which is a marked improvement over the previous Galaxy Note, which was no slow horse to begin with. Unique to the Note series from Samsung is the S Pen which is a stylus boasting unique interaction possibilities as well as exclusive apps, such as S Note, S Planner and advanced Email with hand-writing.
integration.

Samsung Galaxy S3

Apple went to great lengths to restrict the Korean firm’s ability to sell its flagship handset in the States, and it’s easy to see why. The phone is lightning fast, easy to use, has a superb camera and a crystal clear, vibrant display.

Despite being released towards the middle of this year, many experts still consider the Galaxy S3 to be the premier phone on the market. If you wanted an idea of the public’s take on the great Galaxy S3 vs. iPhone debate then consider that four of the Galaxy’s five best-selling weeks in the US came after the iPhone 5 was released. It seems those who wanted to see what Apple would offer before upgrading, decided the offering wasn’t enough to justify the cost.

HTC One X+

While the Galaxy S3 has attracted most of the attention, HTC’s One X quickly established a devoted following. With a brilliant camera, Beats Audio sound, a huge and vibrant screen, and a processor that saw it manage tasks with ease, the only thing that held it back from the ‘market leader’ debate was poor battery life.

HTC addressed that issue with their One X+, a refresh of the original with much better stamina.

Jellybean

While Apple has undoubtedly released their best smartphone yet in the iPhone 5, the fact is that they needed to in order to keep up with their Android rivals. And Android upped the ante by releasing their new Jellybean operating system almost to coincide with the new iPhone.

Jellybean has made the Android experience smoother, faster and easier. The only problem is its current limited availability. But if you opt for a top-notch Android phone, prepare to look at your iPhone 5-using friends with a mixture of smugness and sympathy.

This has been a guest post submission.

If you want to upgrade your handset but can’t afford to, there are websites where you can sell stuff online for free. Music Magpie is a company that will take all forms of electronics, so be sure to check them out to fund an upgrade.

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