Android users: Are you switching to the iPhone 6? (1 Viewer)

[TonyD]

One little thing that I love is that little back button next to th home button. So simple but perfect. I can click a link, read the article and hit the button and it closes that page and takes right back to where I was. Love it. That isn't keeping me on Android but it helps.

 

[McPaul]

Agreed. That's a nice touch. As is onscreen buttons so you can have smaller bezels

 

[[email protected]]

If you have been using higher end android phones, why downgrade to an iphone 6? Unless you are somebody heavily into apple everything, it wouldn't make alot of sense to go that direction imo. Of course there is the status symbol thing of owning an iphone.....what a great job marketing by apple, but i don't need to be trendy.

 

[TonyD]

Ordered my N4 today at BB. BB is offering a $200 BB GC with trade in if you order the N4.

 

[McPaul]

I have no interest in touch wiz whatsoever. Waiting for the nexus x. Then I will compare with apple before deciding.

 

[TonyD]

Got my note4 yesterday and love it so far. Why are some people hung up on touch wiz? There are a dozen decent ones to get including Nova which is great.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Which Android phones have optical image stabilization? The iPhone us getting this, which will make it even more competitive with the top Android camera phones, but I'm sure some of them already have OIS.

Kinda wish I could switch back for my company phone.

I don't exactly hate iOS, but I definitely prefer Android (and I'm not one to constantly tweak/hack my phone either)... and iPhone still doesn't allow inexpensive battery replacement, memory card use (to expand storage cheaply... although it's nice to see them making the leap to 64GB and 128GB a bit more affordable than in past years), and are still a bit too expensive to add/replace the cord, which is too fragile for something that's kinda expensive to add/replace.

Since we all know now that the smaller iPhone6 doesn't come w/ OIS, I guess that's one less desired benefit there...

_Man_

PS: I should add that I do *HATE* that I'm forced to synch stuff via iTunes in the manner it's done, especially on a phone that's stuck w/ little storage. That's probably one of the worst aspects of using an iOS device -- it's good that iTunes works pretty well for ripping music and managing my collection on the computer, but it's awful when it comes to synching stuff, especially once you want to manage synching w/ multiple devices. I rarely bother to synch stuff w/ iTunes because of this, especially since I can do basic backups via a free iCloud account nowadays.

 

[Sam Posten]

I really don't get the battery replacement thing in 2014. There are a million terrific chargers and mophie clones, which you can actually use while the phone is in service. My 6+ lasts 3 days of normal use for me so I hung up my Mophie addiction but even the 5 with its replaced (ie fixed) battery was going without ever having to sip from the Mophie for over a days full active use...

 

[Hanson]

Exchange Active Sync takes a huge toll on battery life. If you have a phone that receives push email from an Exchange server, it will not last for 3 days no matter what your definition of "normal use" is.

 

[Sam Posten]

I have an Active Exchange Push email from my company that has my phone buzzing all day long. 15% dude.

 

[Hanson]

I've never not had EAS on my smartphones, but I have had iPhone users who asked for EAS and then propmtly begged me to take it off after their phones only got four or five hours of battery life. So 3 days with EAS seems rather far-fetched to me. But if you say so...

In any case, the iPhone 6 (not plus) will NOT last 3 days, EAS, or not. Not all of us have the hands and pockets to handle a 5.5" phone.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Sam,

My concern w/ the iPhone's lack of easy-and-affordable battery replacement isn't about swapping batteries or similar midday between (overnight) recharges, but that the iPhone's battery will degrade enough after a year or two to not last as long as I would want... thus either needing battery replacement (or mophie or whatever) or a new phone (before I want to upgrade).

RE: the mophie option, if I have to use a mophie or similar (or even bring one w/ me just in case), then that kills some of the pros for going iPhone in the first place -- I have never actually needed to carry an extra battery for any cell phone I've ever used... although smartphones are definitely limiting compared to basic phones and are forcing me to recharge pretty much every night now.

Nobody should have to use a mophie (or swap batteries for that matter) midday if you normally recharge overnight. But if you recharge overnight everyday, the battery will start degrading noticeably after 1 year me thinks and become pretty useless after 2 years. That might be fine if you plan on upgrading after 1 year, but that's not my use case.

I personally expect at least 2 years of usage w/ no noticeable battery degradation issues and would prefer at least 3-4 years -- if the hardware (or OS) becomes too outdated to remain useful to me before then, I'll upgrade, but I do not want the battery to be a deciding factor to force an upgrade. And you probably won't get that unless you can replace the battery cheaply as soon as degradation becomes noticeable, ie. not regularly lasting full day on a full recharge.

Now, since Apple does seem to offer battery replacement for $100, I guess that does make it more palatable, but the high cost is still a strike against the iPhone even though it doesn't necessarily kill it for me. Mophie is another option, but that isn't exactly cheap (compared to typical battery replacement costs on other phones) and adds substantial bulk to the phone -- I guess I might like the bulk for handheld phone calls, but probably not for other uses.

_Man_

PS: I'm aware that some smartphones have big enough batteries that might last me 2 full days most times (when still new), eg. probably the iPhone6+, probably the Samsung Note series, so they might indeed not need battery replacement for more than 2 years (because their degradation curve will be more gradual due to less need for recharging), but additional serviceable years would still be good to have as far as I'm concerned as I don't want to upgrade until I really need to...

PPS: I would care less about this issue if upgrades are effectively free to me, eg. company phone, so that's not something I care much about for my company-provided iPhone5c -- it's their dime, and they'll replace it for me if/when the battery degrades too much.

 

[Sam Posten]

I understand your concern but believe it to be a non issue since the 5. My 5 had a rotten battery and they replaced it for free. If you get near the end of the contract and you can show them it is faulty they will replace it, if you keep it past 2 years I can't guess but replacements are not nearly as expensive as they used to be. A replacement battery is half the price of a Mophie.

I seriously don't see it as a big deal. Not nearly in the range of ergonomics or app choice anyway.

 

[McPaul]

I really don't understand a lot of these apple objections.I know Ron has also gone back and forth between apple and android, so he would have excellent perspective.

I might be a good example, as I've been going back and forth with apple and android myself so I'm not completely tied to one or the other.

Replaceable battery - battery life on reviews have been solid. I would think Sam's usage is consistent with what I've read. Apple has done a lot of work on their batteries as they own the process from start to finish so I doubt modern batteries will degrade that much over time. Who actually buys a second battery to carry around with their Android phones? No one I know. Apple replacement costs $100. How much does it cost to buy a 3,000+ mAh battery for your android and replace it yourself? Battery is a wash.

Cost per GB storage - this is a fair comment. Apple does charge for higher storage. NO doubt about it. You could buy a SD card for "certain" android phones to expand the storage but then you have to do the dance every time you save and search for something - where do you save it, where did you put it? Apple requires no fiddling. Bonus for me, a bonus I will pay for.

Cord - who makes a decision on what ecosystem to go with based on how much a cord costs? buy some electrical tape if yours starts to fray at the end, which apple cords have done. I have done that with two of my apple cords, no replacement necessary.

Forced to sync stuff through iTunes? I don't understand this at all. What on earth do people think is wrong with iTunes? I've been using spottily as of July myself, but previously all my music was bought through iTunes. loved it. No issues with synching. No issues with playback. it managed all my music (100k songs plus) with no issues. I was not an iTunes match subscriber. Someone please explain what is wrong with iTunes to me?

I do get the customizatiion issue with android, but honestly once I've placed my icons where I want them on my home screen, added a widget and put my own wallpaper on the phone, I'm good to go. Why do people constantly need to fiddle? My phone is my tool. I use it for getting work (or play) done. It is not an end in itself. I don't play with my hammers this much, so why would I play with my other tools (my phone)?

What I do love about android is they tend to innovate faster. However, apple catches up quickly and executes better. Take apple pay... There were people in 2012 that were able to use google wallet here in Canada with american credit cards and pay at retail outlets over NFC. Apple catches up with apple pay in 2014 but executes better with touch ID and instant on without opening an app first, etc. Canadian cards still don't work on either system, but the point is google was first and apple was better.

I do love Google Now. That is a great service I hope apple copies soon, however I like some of what apple is doing through it's Today screen and notifications widgets.

In north america, western europe and japan, iOS is the dominant mobile operating system by far. Does it not make sense to get the same ecosystem as your friends? What drove me absolutely nuts was Hangouts on my Nexus 5. Apple users couldn't send me text messages through iMessage. They wouldn't go through. I'd rather have something that just works with my friends' phones.

All in good fun. At the end of the day, go with the ecosystem that works for you and stick with it. But it's a mobile phone operating system. It's hardly something worth getting emotionally attached to. Listen to all perspectives, try them both out, and make the decision which is right for you. All educated opinions are valid.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

McPaul,

Of course nobody makes the decision based solely on any single one of those points. They are essentially bulletpoints/factors to consider in the whole decision. Some will care more about them, and some less so (or maybe not at all).

IF all else are pretty equal (and that could easily depend on the individual), then those factors will of course matter more. Yes, all else are (usually) not quite equal of course. For some, there's really not that much separating the 2 ecosystems, so these factors will become more significant... and that's largely the case for me.

I really haven't personally missed anything from Apple's ecosystem for my uses when I had a Samsung GS3 for a year, but I'm also not really big on apps (at least on a phone anyway) -- maybe I just haven't seen many that are truly compelling for my uses outside of the more mainstream ones that are typically preinstalled or readily available across platforms anyway. And of the pretty standard major apps, I prefer mobile Chrome over Safari, Google Maps/Nav over Apple's (and not even close), Apple's Mail client over the various basic, free-or-included mail clients on Android to a small extent (though I haven't tried that many and have only tried 1 paid PIM+email app that my previous company required for secured access and Exchange Active Synch) -- the rest are mostly a wash at this point -- so there's really not a whole lot distinguishing the 2 ecosystems for me.

In the past, Android had the widgets advantage, IMO better/more, useful OS-level features (on the whole) and far better customization (even though settings can be a bit disorganized or counter-intuitive in places), but I guess iOS8+ has closed the gap some more... perhaps to the point of not being a substantial issue to me -- the ability to install your own keyboard as an app is definitely a substantial one IMHO... and might've been mentioned under ecosystem diff above before iOS8 came along. I still prefer having/using the back button of Android though, and that's still not available in iOS... although many of the better apps do provide good enough in-app nav to reduce that need.

Actually don't know why people keep bringing up Google Now since I use it just fine on my iPhone5c via the Google app -- it actually sits in my dock, supplanting whatever was originally there even though the dock can only fit 4 apps. In fact, on an iOS device, I find the Google app (which hosts Google Now) to be far more useful/needed than on an Android device because I can't have a search widget on the home page *and* it lets me bypass whatever iOS integration obstacles against Google's apps (following a search and maybe some basic web browsing... that can be done w/in the Google app itself) -- offhand, I can only think of the Maps situation. I'm assuming iOS8+ doesn't preclude the use of the Google app.

RE: iTunes, most of the various complaints have been around for ages now. IF those issues don't bother you for whatever reasons -- maybe they just don't factor into your use case or POV -- that's fine. I'm not here to argue about your use case or to convince everyone else to ditch iOS because of iTunes (or otherwise). I've already mentioned some main downsides about iTunes (and there are probably more, if I elaborate), and doubt it'll matter to rehash them in detail here. I am glad though that there are some solutions to help alleviate the IMO problematic dependence on iTunes, eg. iCloud, media streaming, etc, though they don't solve all the problems for everyone -- not for me anyway... and maybe it wasn't clear, but I've been using iOS devices on-and-off for a long time now, so I'm not just reiterating other people's laundry list of complaints or being impractically religious about this...


Anyway, for someone like my retirement age mother, iPhone's pros probably outweigh the cons (relative to Android) at this point, so I'll likely go that route for her -- already got her an iPad Mini (instead of a Google Nexus tablet or similar) for that reason. For me, it's not as simple, especially since I do have to manage multiple devices for multiple family members as well (and also need something sanctioned for work use since I don't want to lug 2 phones)... plus I do spend much of my day in front of a PC, so some aspects (like the small diffs in apps ecosystem) might matter much less to me than the avg user... and yes, price is a factor as well (although I don't mind paying more if I find it justified... as w/ most anything else)... and no, I'm not that heavily invested in either ecosystem -- we don't have/use that many paid apps (nor iTunes-bought music) while the TomTom app has become pretty obsolete (in the face of Google Maps/Nav) and the only other expensive paid app I have can be transferred between iOS and Android w/out much issue. Actually, my Sennheiser (wired) headset only functions fully w/ iOS devices, and that's probably one of the most expensive accessory that can't be switched fully functionally between systems, so I guess that's one thing that nudges me toward staying w/ iOS -- wish they'd just standardize on something like that...

Cheers!

_Man_

 

[McPaul]

This looks pretty cool

http://www.theverge.com/2014/10/22/7041227/google-inbox-hands-on-this-feels-like-the-future-of-email

 

[Sam Posten]

Forced to sync stuff through iTunes? I don't understand this at all. What on earth do people think is wrong with iTunes? I've been using spottily as of July myself, but previously all my music was bought through iTunes. loved it. No issues with synching. No issues with playback. it managed all my music (100k songs plus) with no issues. I was not an iTunes match subscriber. Someone please explain what is wrong with iTunes to me?

If, like me, you have more than 25000 songs in your library ITM will randomly figure out which of your 25k songs to sync and then get confused about adding more. It's not fun and not the elegant degradation we expect from Apple.

 

[McPaul]

If, like me, you have more than 25000 songs in your library ITM will randomly figure out which of your 25k songs to sync and then get confused about adding more. It's not fun and not the elegant degradation we expect from Apple.

I've got over 100k songs, and though I currently use Spotify, I still play through my old library on my mac and iPhone.

When I sync my phone I always tell it to automatically fill free space with iTunes, but I've never had a problem. Perhaps I'm not understanding what the problem is?

Oh, ITM - Is this iTunes match? I don't subscribe to that. I read there were problems with it so have never bothered to buy it.

 

[Sam Posten]

Right, if you use iTunes match it is all or nothing with music syncing. I agree using smart playlists and specific max allotments is smart, it's tricky to mix that and ITM.

 

[McPaul]

Got it. Guess I will never be buying ITM until they fix it. Spotify works for now, but I'm really curious about the pono player Neil Young is developing. That is probably ripe for a takeover by apple if it does well. The only thing that concerns me is a screenshot I saw of the pono store where albums were going for ~$18.

I feel like a lot of us are having the same discussions btwn apple and android in different threads. it would be nicer if this section of the forums were arranged differently to make it more organized, but I'm not sure how. I also don't really see any android people participating, so maybe we're discussing a one sided topic between apple and apple?! lol Maybe a different thread for music, one for browsing, one for customizing, one for....

I don't know.