[Galaxy S II General] Darkmind1:
I am not going to upgrade to the S4. If the specs turn out to be true, I don't fancy having a 5-inch phone with me. What's the point? It's too big to be a phone, I like to carry it around in my pocket, something I can still achieve with my S2. Instead of making huge phones with ultra-high specs, they should focus on software innovations and, most importantly, delivering prompt updates.

Yes, they are better than HTC or LG in delivering their updates, but it is still stupid that each device gets their update differently and, what's worse, is that we have to wait after carrier applying their sh*t. While I understand the American versions have to wait more, since Samsung makes the phone specifically for each of them, I don't get it why the unlocked GT-I9100 still has to wait after carriers. I find that there is no excuse for unlocked phones having to receive their updates from carriers, when Samsung could push it themselves directly from their own carriers. From this point of view, Apple excels, although their lack of innovation in iOS for the past 2 years drives me away from iPhone, although, with Forstall out, there may be new hope that a more open mind will take over iOS development.

I won't buy the Nexus 4 either, because I don't like the design and the build quality seems quite bad to me, at least from what I have seen in disassembly videos. It's quite ridiculous that you have double-sided tape to keep the battery in place, which makes replacing the battery a lot harder. This video will show you more http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZDAIgwbXk4 .

As for the iPhone 5, the build quality is excellent and is the first iPhone that i actually like in terms of design and build quality, because it's lightweight and, from reports, it's pretty resilient, although the back scratches quite easily, but at least it won't be splat if you drop it once. Even if you still need to disassemble the phone in order to gain access to battery, the battery is strapped in place with screws, not double-sided tape, which makes it much easier to disassemble and less risky to damage the phone or leave residual tape there. Here's a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV8QsM7TTyc . What does keep me away from iPhone is lack of iOS innovation. What I really want from them is a decent file system which would ease organising files much easier. I have an iPad 3 and it was a pain till I found out a good app (iFiles) which enables me to store documents and other type of files in once place and them open them with other programs. Although this makes things easier, it's still sub-par compared to Android (non-rooted). The lack of widgets and customization of iOS are also a big issue for me and it's sad, as the core system is very good and efficient, but Apple is slowly killing it with their stupid philosophy of not allowing the user to do more and depending on iTunes for file transfer.

Sorry if this post went off-topic here and there, but I wanted to point out what the problem is with each device. To me, at the time being, the Galaxy S2 is still the most balanced deviced out there. Although no HD screen resolution, the display is still very good, we have RGB matrix (not PenTile like on Galaxy S3), we have replaceable battery and battery door + extension if required, build quality, although some people may argue is cheap, I find it good as it's very resilient to fall damage and you don't get the creaks. Samsung needs to learn how to properly offer software support, stop using sh*t like Yamaha audio chips or Fujitsu cameras and it would be perfect.

All in all, I will follow how things evolve, but the current trend to make devices bigger and/or with irreplaceable or harder to service battery is going to put me in a hard situation to choose from phones in the future.