Be Excellent To Each Other

In fairness, out of the $70 and $450 dollars you've got:

Hardware R&D
Software R&D
Supply chain
Administrative costs
Store rents
Advertising

to name a few.

Seems a really odd comparison to make, considering the Moto G and iPhone 5S are aimed at totally different markets. There may not be a massive difference in hardware between the two devises, but it's significant enough. Motorola are deliberately cutting their margins on that decide to target a different market sector, it's pretty standard practice. Sure, Apple stuff is priced at the top end, and the actual cost doesn't probably justify it - but that's why the 5C exists, but attempting to prove that by talking about the Moto G seems really weird. Why not look at the manufacturing costs of the Galaxy S4 or HTC 1-X?

Also, I'm willing to bet that manufacturing costs doesn't include patent licensing costs. There will be a big arse chunk of that factored into the price of an iPhone but not a Moto device, what with Motorola being a walking patent portfolio that occasionally makes smartphones.

That's all covered in the article, but all the analysts agree that the end result is Apple taking massively more out of the hardware than Motorola do, albeit yes they're aimed at different markets and/or are pricing as they are for different reasons. (Apple traditionally like to make wedges out of the hardware, Motorola are being used to get people into the Google ecosystem, plus the Moto G is a 'trickle down' from the Moto X so R&D was damn near zero.)

I think the bottom line is that everyone knows that Apple is a premium brand, that costs far more than rivals, but you know what you are going to get is quality. Some people want that, some people just want the kudos that comes with having a designer name.

Malc

And some people don't even realise that there are other phones available

My wife has an Android phone and she's wondering what is the best way to automatically back up her photos as she takes them.

I'm presuming it's dropbox but I'm out of the loop on Android.

Google plus. Backs everything up automatically, and you get autoawesome thrown in.

I forgot to add, that some people don't want to pay for the "benefits" of apple, and others want the freedom that something like android offers.

Malc

Not surprisingly, I forgot about Google+. Good idea!

Ah, but it's not that 'everyone knows' that - it's a deliberate pricing strategy. It's the reason the 5C exists. Make everyone think you're not overcharging by introducing a midrange handset, whilst at the same time getting everyone who's replacing an older iPhone to go 'well I should upgrade to the 5C, but the 5S isn't that more expensive, and it's properly high end'. Apple are fucking good at consumer psychology. They don't really intend to sell many 5Cs at all, and it's really damned clever.

Is the market for iPhones and the Moto G really that different though? Can't people who are potential iPhone customers simply look at the cost of the things and decide they're a rip-off?

I've had an iPhone in the past (a 3G), I could have had an iPhone the last two times I changed my phone but I simply didn't see that there was anything there that warranted the cost. (Plus you have to put up with the unholy abomination that is iTunes on the PC.)

When my One X dies I'll just replace it with a Moto G, sure I could spend £500 on a 5S and I can afford it, but I'm at the point now where even a 'budget' smartphone like the Moto G is good enough for what I need.

I don't particularly buy the 'quality' argument either, ultimately Apple's stuff comes out of the same Chinese Suicide Sweatshops that every other manufacturer's gear does, although Apple's kit is supremely well designed, no doubt about that.

If you look at the Moto G, quad-core processor and decent graphics, 720p screen, 1GB of RAM, usable camera etc - seriously, what kind of specs do you need in a smartphone?

I look at the iPhone 5S and think 'Yeah I could have one of those, but there are other choices that make more sense.'

The 5C is also more targeting people who might instead buy a used 5.

Clearly it is, otherwise people who like Android devices would all be buying the Moto G instead of the eg Galaxy S4, to take fanboyism out of the equation.

I have a Nexus 4, but I might have gotten the Moto G instead given the option at the time.

I actually like the white 5C more than the 5S, I never liked the iPad-like shell that iPhones have used for years now. But it's still 600 euro for what is basically "last years model". Lunacy.

Upgrade day tomorrow.

I've narrowed it down to the Nexus 5 or the SG4. I know which one I favour, but what do *you* reckon?

Whichever is cheapeer.

((Also, much prefer stock android to samsung android, but that's a personal thing)

If I go for the Samsung, the first thing I'll be doing is installing the nova launcher to banish touch wiz

Might be a bad time to make the decision with the SGS5 just around the corner. If you're not bothered by that, the camera is better on the Galaxy and you can put an SD card in it which are two factors that would push me personally towards the Samsung option (even though I fucking hate Touchwiz with a passion). Other than that I don't think there's a lot in it.

I upgrade next month, and I'm going to go for an S5 or a One MAX.

That's the problem. There's nothing in it.

I can't afford to buy either outright so the price isn't a real issue. The specs are basically identical and the difference in software is irrelevant.

I'm not bothered by the imminent sg5 either. Bah. Sod it, I'll get the Samsung

The Nexus will get updates way sooner than the Samsung.

True, but that's becoming less important to me these days.

Sent from my KitKat SG2

If you're considering the One Max wouldn't the Note 3 be the equivalent Samsung?

I've got the One Max and it's alright, but I'm not 100% convinced I wouldn't have been better off with the Note 3. There's nothing massively wrong with it* and I do quite like the solid build quality of it which was why I picked it up but I'm very 'meh' about it on the whole. The Note 2 was an excellent phone mind so maybe I'd be 'meh' about the Note 3 if I'd gone for that instead but certainly I'm thinking I'll move back to Samsung again next time round.

*Apart from: the camera which is utter fucking balls; the notification light which is worse than useless and a very slight sluggishness which annoys me now and again (which isn't like to happen on the Note 3's faster CPU and extra GB of RAM).

I hated my S3 and love my Nexus 5, if that helps at all?

In true Beex style I've decided I want the new shinies today, so it's off to the shops at lunchtime!

I can't get all that excited about phones any more. Like washing machines or boilers, something to just replace when they stop working properly, the new one is going to be much the same as the old one.

I fear I'm heading that way. MrsPaz has the SG4 and although it's nice, it's very, very similar to the sg2 that's been my constant companion for 2 years. *sigh*

#firstworldproblems

It's the same on the other side of the OS fence too. I may get an iPhone 6, but it depends on whether my 5 is knackered or not. Otherwise I'll just keep it. We seem to be heading into ever diminishing returns with smartphones.

I can't think of anything that would make me want to upgrade from my HTC One any time soon. Maybe 2x battery life.

We're well into a period of diminishing returns with the SGS3/4/5 but from the SGS2 to any of those is a genuine upgrade to my mind. My sister still has the SGS2 and whenever I do anything with it it feels slow, tiny and the screen's noticeably worse than newer stuff.

Have you decided what you're going to get yet?

And on an unrelated note it appears there are changes afoot with Android's handling of SD cards. The author of that article admits that he's just speculating at where this is all heading but, assuming I've read it correctly, there's a possibility of Android moving to an iOS style model where files are owned by specific apps rather than just a freely accessible file system. I really hope that's not the case as it would be a real problem for some of my use cases.

You all need to get Windows phones.. They're both new AND shiny.

Battery life and a better camera for me.

o/

Quiet you.

indeed, i see no need to upgrade fom the nexus 4.

it may help that I think phone games are by and large a stinking heap of shit.

Most of them are, yes.

I upgraded fro my HTC Desire S to a SG2 at Chrtistmas, the SG2 was my mum's old one. It is a technically better phone and all, but it is so slow to do anything. The UI is nowhere near as good as the Desire's, the only real advantage is the screen size is a bit bigger.

Also, my mum had never upgraded the s/w on it; when I got it I didn't realise and just left it. The battery life was awesome. Then I realised it had updates available, stupid me I updated the s/w. The battery life is shocking now.

you can get an expanded battery, I had one for my SG2

IF, you don't mind your phone having a fat arse.

I like big butts and I can not lie


the one I had just brought the back out to the level of the base of the sg2, which already sticks out.

Successor to the HTC One to be announced next week. So that's Samsung on Monday and HTC on the Tuesday; I can't help thinking Grim's picked a really bad time to go shopping.

\o

I have a Samsung Note 3. It came with a free 7" Samsung Tab 3 tablet.

Both give me 50GB extra space on Dropbox, taking my Dropbox account up to about nine petabytes now.

Question: How come, sometimes, when I'm scrolling down a page on my iPhone 5S and I reach a bit I want to read do I take my finger off the screen and see it whizz back to where I started scrolling? What are my slender fingers doing wrong, sexy boys?

You'd be better off asking that in the iOS thread surely?

It's because you secretly want an Android phone, hence posting in the Android thread.

To jump to the top of the page in Safari you tap the clock, I think, so, er - don't know.

Anywhere on the bar along the top, yes. Basically he has sausage fingers.

If it's on Beex, it's because you've started scrolling before the 'jump to first unread' has properly finished doing its thing which then kicks in and jumps you back again.