Review Tuesday: Battle of the Smart Phones

 iPhone 5S

vs

Nokia Lumia 635 

This is less of a proper review and more of a tongue in cheek kinda goof on the whole smart phone business.

Recently Mrs Bax0jayz decided it was time to upgrade from her iPhone 4. Virgin Mobile happened to be running an impressive sale on the iPhone 5S at that time so she went for it. 

For the last year I've been putting my Nokia Lumia 635 Windows phone to hard work. I've tried all sorts of memory cards, apps, and did more with it than you'd expect from a $30 smart phone. Add Cortana to the mix, the Windows version of portable artificial intelligence to help you out with your day. 

The leap from the 4 to the 5S was tremendous. Bigger screen. More internal memory. Faster processor. 4G LTE. Siri. 

When it comes to apps, Android and iOs systems are kings of the hill. WinPhone doesn't hold a candle to the opposition. However, what it lacks in quantity does not diminish the quality of the apps available. Anything I have needed I have been able to find for my phone, plus tons of other goodies that I don't currently need, but might be very useful for other users. Still, iPhone 5 definitely  beats Lumia 635 in sheer numbers of apps. 

I don't know if I could truly gauge battery life of her phone vs mine. After a year with my phone I still charge it 2-3 times a week, while she seems to be charging hers nonstop. We just use out phones too differently to judge battery life. She says that the new phone has a similar battery life as the old one while sustaining a bigger screen and faster everything, so it might just be pretty darned good. 

A lot of noise was made about the increased size of the iPhone 5 when it came out. I found it amusing to see that when we compared this cutting edge phone to my bottom of the barrel Nokia, mine had a larger viewable screen while having similar dimensions.  

While her phone comes from the factory with substantially more internal memory (32 vs 8 gigs) mine has a micro SD slot allowing up to 128 GB! That'll fit everything you want and then some! 

When it comes to cams, the iPhone stomps the Nokia. The iPhone has dual cams up to 8MP and a flash, while the Lumia only has a single 5MP cam without a flash. 

I think what people find most compelling would be the on board AI. People have been discussing how useful Siri is while no one really knows much about Cortana from Windows 8.1. When we tested the AI we found that Cortana was usually faster and more helpful than Siri, not to mention the voice of Cortana is just way more pleasant. Stacey and her mother agreed that Siri sounds like a rude bitch most of the time while Cortana is playful and fun.   

When it comes down to it we're comparing apples and oranges, or rather apples and windows. But in the long run, the Lumia with Win 8.1 ran very well and is dirt cheap. It can sync with your Microsoft account and other computers easily. I just found my phone to be the perfect device for me.