Phone Durability - Samsung Note 2 - Or Galaxy S3

I've never dropped my cell phones so I couldn't comment on that, but I dropped my $600 camera yesterday... fortunately it fell gently and is ok.

that's a good way to test your heart and your reflexes. i dropped my camera twice, once when it fell out of my bag and hit gravel, got a small ding somewhere. another when i was changing lenses in the car and dropped the open camera on the brake level, shattering the mirror - on vacation. at that moment i had a.... you know when your in a bad dream and you will yourself out - it was like that, only nothing happened.


as for the phone, i'm thinking a case of some kind might be the best thing. i don't mind if it's a little thicker, as long as it protects, so if anyone has a favorite case i can go look into that - preferably cheap.


---Mike Savad

i've only dropped it once and had no problems but i've been pretty happy with my s3

Had the s3 but was not crazy about it....I didn't find terribly user friendly. Pluse, several email accounts kept dissapearing.
A friend gave me his old iPhone 4 and gotta say I really like it. I'll keep the s3 as a back-up in case...I drop the iPhone. :)
Though I do have it in an Otter case, so I'm not too worried.

I had a phone once in a case, wearing it on my hip, and was working in a warehouse and shattered the phone against something. maybe not a good idea to wear a case there..

i figure my pocket is safest, partly because i might run into something, partly because it could pop out without me knowing it. and partly because i'm an easy target for thieves. i had a PDA for a long time, but the last one kept turning on in my pocket and dying in an hour. any time i touched the screen it would turn off and just wouldn't turn off unless i noticed it. the phone will replace that... but i thought the phone reviews were hard, finding a case is even harder.

i'm thinking if i can find something with silicone around the rim, it should prevent the screen from touching the ground. but all of them have a film or a plastic cover that kills the quality of the screen, and i don't want that.

---Mike Savad

I carry mine in my pocket now and have keylock on but it still manages to come on by itself even though you have to press two buttons, one after the other.. Similar thing - I have a remote start and alarm in one device for my truck and sometimes the remote is in my jacket pocket and if it bumps something my truck starts or the alarm goes off..

I have a Samsung Galaxy S2 and a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2

Both have been dropped and, both I thought would be gone, but neither were.

Both are incredibly sound and I MUCH prefer them over the iPhone I had. Take far superior photos too

My iPhone is put away

I've had a Samsung Galaxy S2 for one year. Shortly after buying it, it fell out of my pocket twice while running to catch a bus. It fell from 30" and 12" onto concrete and asphalt with no damage. I do keep a slender plastic hard case on it with a good quality screen guard which I'm sure helped. The corners on the protective case were chipped when it fell.

The phone is great although battery life leaves something to be desired.

i now my head is spinning. like how much better is the newer larger note 2, some say the s3 is better in different ways.

the biggest advantage i'm seeing is that the galaxy is smaller, so when i put a case on it (and there should be more cases because it's a little older), it won't be as tall and bulky as that note version. the only real thing i would lose is multitasking and a silly pen that no one seems to care for.

the camera is fine in both, since i don't plan to use it much, i have a camera already, though i do like the gps even though i have one. apparently google maps now has mall plans, and it can guide you some how through the mall itself, but it's only on cell phones. and the note 2 seems tougher according to silly drop tests. samsung showed torture tests saying that both phones are waterproof. i really doubt it, but it seemed to work.

the galaxy i can get as a 32gig model for the same price as the other, or go with the 16gig for $100 less, in which i can get a 64 micro sd, and use that for the extra space. still not sure which version since i don't really know how big the apps are, they don't seem to list the size in the app store.

now the challenge in finding a case where i can still use the screen.




---Mike Savad

lynn - what's the brand of the case so i can look that up with the rest of the search? thanks


---Mike Savad

It came with my phone and looks almost exactly like this one...logo is positioned differently. It says it's brushed aluminum but the case is really plastic with an aluminum panel on the back. If size isn't a problem then I would think one of the bulkier neopreme cases that protect the edge might be better (and cheaper).

http://www.case-mate.com/Samsung-Galaxy-S-III-Cases/Case-Mate-Samsung-Galaxy-S3-Brushed-Aluminum-Barely-There-Cases.asp

Lynn,

Battery life - check out "Powerskin". It doubles the battery life and has a soft rubber shroud for protection. In essence, you would have two batteries - the internal phone battery, and the powerskin has its own, also.

I bought mine on Amazon for $45

http://www.power-skin.com/

that's a neat one, i'll have to review that when i'm less sleepy tomorrow.

---Mike Savad

How long does the battery last you I heard the iPhone has to be charged every day

@Jeffrey Thanks, that sounds interesting, I'll check it out.

@Art I make two or three short calls a day, check the bus schedule online a couple times a day, occasionally check for emails and barely make it 8 hours before draining the battery.

I have a Lifeproof case for my iPhone and I have taken it down to 10 feet in the pool to take video.

That being said, Lifeproof is in the process of coming out with a case for the Galaxy S3 and if it is anything like the one they make for the iPhone, it will be the case to get.

Drops are one thing, but water kills electronics.

With two teens I have some experience with cases. The cheap generic ones have not cut it for us. The majority of kids suggested Otter boxes to my kids as the sturdiest case (and my son's Otter box has lasted about 6 months so far) , but my daugher- who has an iphone she bought herself- tore up an Otter Box in 6 weeks. Surprizingly the Zazzle cases have held up pretty well for her. She has a Zazzle Barely There case for her iphone that has lasted better than 6 months so far. She drops her phone at least one a month. She had the phone replaced twice while it was still under warranty but either she has learned to be a little more careful or the Zazzle case works. Since got the Zazzle case she has dropped the phone but it has been okay- so far. I would not have predicted the ZAZZLE case would last as well as the Otter box- the Otter box is thicker and rubberier and the Zazzle case honestly seems a little fragile just to look at it - but in practice it has been the best so far. Design a case from one of your photos - it might be a nice litte ad too. My daughter designed her own case and gets a lot of comments and people asking where she got it.

it's weird though because that torture test showed it in a rock bath being tossed around and shot with a hose. though i don't want to test either of those two idea.

they showed an otterbox on youtube, a kid tossed about 50ft in the air and there wasn't a scratch on it. but when you go to amazon review most people hated the screen cover, i wonder if i can install it without that cover and if it would be safe.

problem with zazzle stuff is that it's rather expensive. it's list or over. amazon sells each case for an average of $25 - which is high for some rubber, but it's the cost of the glass on one of these things. so far i'm leaning towards the note 2, which might limit my choices, but since i don't plan to get it until after christmas, when there might be sales - i'll check to see if there is another brand of phone that's better.

---Mike Savad

Mike, what are you going to use it for if not as a phone? You may want to consider a tablet instead...or a smart camera instead...Smart cameras have the apps as do the tablets...My tablet has gps, skype, games and anything else you can put on a phone...with a screen large enough to see...My tablet only cost 199.00 (google nexus 7) and is priceless entertainment wise...So much of the monthly coast with cell phones revolves around "talk time".

they don't sell pda's any more. and almost every good app are on phones now. so it's a tiny computer for me, that just happens to have the functionalities of a phone. at first i was going to get a laptop/tablet - did a ton of research decided on the lenovo twist. then thought - when the heck am i going to use a laptop? so i went to the tablet, i liked the nexus 7, but it doesn't have gorilla glass or a camera in the front (if i'm spending the money i want the gadgets). so i moved up to the nexus 10, it has those things, but it also weighs 1.5 pounds or so, and the nexus has some bulk as well. i can't force it in my pocket and my camera bag is already overloaded. with the money a larger tablet would cost, and the fact that i want to be able to look up the local weather or something else, a phone made sense.

but i'll only be using the wifi, buying the unlocked version. then i can choose the carrier if i actually wanted to use this thing as a phone.

the main use originally was a toy to use during a black out. but it's kind of an expensive toy to have for only that once in a while use. i want to be able to look things up on vacation for example, so a smaller device seemed to make more sense. and a phone is something i can bring with me. xfinity (comcast) has a service that allows you to use their wifi spots, if your a member. so i would probably use that along with any other free ones. when i had the pda, there were very few spots i could actually use it. and had limited success with weather apps and internet browsing.

the plan in a power out currently would be, to trail an extension cord up to my room and attach the network and cable modem to that, the router has to be switched over to a wireless then i can go online with that. i still may get the laptop though.


---Mike Savad

I just got off google plus and someone posted that they added a wireless mouse and a logitech keyboard to their nexus 7...I will definitely look into adding the mouse...Will add so much functionality ...
I

i'm still battling it out with the galaxy 3 or the note 2. everyone says the note 2 is too large and heavy. it's also limited to 16gb of memory (minus expansion). i do wonder that since i'm not getting a plan, if i can upgrade the firmware to the jellybean (these names all make me hungry for candy). or if they pack it like that now.

HTC has a nice version too, but near impossible to get, so i crossed it off as soon as i couldn't find it anywhere.

---Mike Savad

Check E-bay for cases. I've never paid more than $10 for decent quality leather cases.

partly i don't trust ebay, but a leather case probably won't prevent screen impact problems, that this phone seems to have problems with.

---Mike Savad

windows 8 also came on the s3 which is designed for this sort of thing