On the hardware side, all major flagship phones are very good and have been for some time. It really comes down to OS preference -- iOS is more of an advantage to me than whatever spec bump the S6 would give me over an iPhone 6.
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Anyone else considered giving up their iPhone for the new Galaxy S6?
- Thread starter capathy21
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I actually agree with Technarchy. I have a very hard time using my iPhone 6 after using my OnePlus. And when I receive my S6, I predict that disparity will be even more true.
The Apple branding is incredibly strong. The 6 and the eventual 6S will sell like crazy because of brand recognition and brand loyalty, and not necessarily because of a better experience or more functionality. So the 6S "disrupting the status quo" will be primarily based on brand than functionality.
Apple will continue to spout that it offers the world's most advanced operating system, when it doesn't. They'll continue to play up the fear and overblown issue of fragmentation in their competitors. They'll continue to talk about how everybody loves their i-devices (and therefore so should you) and that sale records are being broken each time. They'll continue doing what they do to sell the Apple branding. That's what they, understandably, have to do.
But when you're using both platforms (Android/iOS) side by side, all that goes out the window. Anybody who is looking objectively at the two platforms can tell one is definitely better than the other. The things TouchWiz, for example, is allowing you to do on the phone is phenomenally more advanced than Apple's "world's most advanced mobile operating system." TouchWiz is reaching desktop computer level functionality. It's not quite there yet, of course, but it's still steps above iOS. The ability to resize apps, or to minimize them and pin them as icons, or to split the screen to whatever size ratio you want to have multiple apps running at the same time. This is advance. And these are just a few examples. iOS' app drawer style operating system seems static by comparison. Very static.
The ability to almost freely customize your user experience is a huge advantage, too, that also speaks to how advance the operating system is. Customizing goes far deeper than aesthetics (though even on the aesthetics level, the ability to customize themes, etc. is very nice too). This is a device you pull out of your pocket numerous times per day. Customizing the user experience to fit your style, your usage patterns, your needs is a big, BIG deal; one that you feel every single day you use your device. This is more than just about looks.
iOS needs to catch up. And any honest Apple/iOS fan must admit this and must not continue spouting "the iPhone will do just fine." It will. In fact, it'll break records likely again with the 6S. But therein lies the problem. Apple's branding is just that strong, and it allows them to get away without truly competing.
Apple is systematically getting beat on nearly all the fronts they used to dominate in. And this continues to be true with the latest release of the S6/Edge. Innovative dual screen design and technology. Innovative inhouse processor. Better/faster camera supposedly. Better screen. Wireless charging standards. More NFC payment standards. A far more dynamic operating system (that is not without its faults, of course). Finally an acceptable/beautiful design (iPhone 4/4S was my favorite iPhone design). I mean, the list can go on.
I have little doubt that what little left there is that Apple dominates in, will also systematically get taken over by the competition in the next year(s). Except for the brick and motor store experience. That won't happen for a long time, if ever. But on the actual user experience front, I just cannot see Apple beating the competition unless they start changing their game plan. But they won't because they don't have to.
EDIT:
A lot of what I've said can be applied to the Apple Watch too. It is/will sell well because of branding, and not because of more/better functionality.
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I'm keeping mine as I want to have iOS and android. My next purchase whatever it maybe will be sell one of my other androids.
Definitely keeping both my S6 Edge and 6+
The only thing that will replace my 6+ is the 7+
Yeah I will get whatever they release this year but suspect they'll jump to iPhone 7 because 6S+ is such a mouthful. Its a prefix with a prefix ....I like having both IOS and android too.. this way I also have an excuse to get the 6s+
My next android will likely be moto X 2015
there is an international version I believe, question is how compatible is it with USA. and will you have warranty if you buy it. Im curious too.
personally why people buy the iPhone is irrelevant to me. the iPhone 6s is probably going
to be a repeat of the iPhone 6; trying to analyze the psyche of the iPhone buyer is useless.
You are certainly welcome to your opinion of iOS, one of its strengths is it "just works" out of the box with a quick restore.
If Apple is getting beat beat on all fronts, it's financials don't show it; while Samsung mobile financials do. Maybe the s6 will turn the corner for Samsung; idk.
The branding for Apple is strong; Samsung would like the same branding. People like the Apple brand for a reason.
I have an iPhone 6, but I do not think it is fair to compare S6 with it. S6 is a much more high end first tier product. The pros on the S6 side makes iPhone 6 low to mid end at best.
What I miss from iPhone 6 that S6 have is:
- something actually new as the edge
- high ppi screen amoled
- wireless charging
- multitasking (multi window and actual multitasking without actual refreshes)
- a back that is not slippery (glass is perfect and your fingers do not slip)
- 5.1" screen option (the biggest you can go for perfect one handed operation)
- Quick charging
- Google apps in their best form. Googles online services are the only worth using.
What do you lose then?
- iMessage
- Keychain
4.7" in iPhones big 5" cabinet is a toy with big bezels like a low end product.
What I miss from iPhone 6 that S6 have is:
- something actually new as the edge
- high ppi screen amoled
- wireless charging
- multitasking (multi window and actual multitasking without actual refreshes)
- a back that is not slippery (glass is perfect and your fingers do not slip)
- 5.1" screen option (the biggest you can go for perfect one handed operation)
- Quick charging
- Google apps in their best form. Googles online services are the only worth using.
What do you lose then?
- iMessage
- Keychain
4.7" in iPhones big 5" cabinet is a toy with big bezels like a low end product.
I'm not saying your wrong but this sounds like a apple is doomed post. Apple is doing great. Samsung had a bad mobile year by their account, which is why they've adopted a lot of the elements from the iPhone. The s6 seems to be a hit, something they badly needed. Seems like it was Samsung who had to step up. Apple is already there. People can hate on the watch but most reviews I've read say it's the best smart watch out right now. Yes the branding helps, they got to that point by having great products and service. I don't see that changing.
IMHO .... Apple idevices are a bubble that can be popped. All it takes is one piece of amazing new hardware or software tech from another manufacturer that Apple can't provide in a timely matter, and pop!!! The masses move on. Just like many other staple devices in moments of time.
With standardised chipset (they're all using exynos and samsungs lte chips)I would have assumed that any European unlocked handset would be international and support US carriers. However I would recommend you double check that
With respect, I don't think you understood my post. My point was that Apple is far from doom. As I said, their brand recognition is incredibly strong right now. So strong that even if they aren't competing to the degree others are, they can get away with amazing sales. Sales that break records in fact. I'm proposing the idea that this happens mostly because of the foundation that they've built from the past, and the reputation and reliability that they've fostered over the past few years.
Apple is doing as well as they are because of this foundation. People continue to get Apple because of a very strong brand recognition and reputation, and not necessarily because Apple offers a better user experience. Great marketing and press help tremendously, too.
This article might be interesting to you: https://medium.com/krautreporter-stories/the-apple-media-distortion-field-644e9e7b8666
I think Apple will continue to do tremendously well because this momentum that they've built isn't slowing down. However, I think the user experience has suffered recently.
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I have no doubt the next iteration(s) of the iPhone will continue to do well, but I disagree with you that it's unimportant why people buy certain things. It's important because as a fellow iOS user, I want Apple to continue making iOS better. The rate at which they're going just isn't fast enough when you consider how quickly the competition is moving, and how more advanced the competitor's operating system is. Again, depending on which OEM you're looking at, we're reaching desktop-level like capabilities on a smartphone.
The whole "it just works" is part of the branding, and it's unfortunate that people are still using that to 1) pretend that other devices don't also work out of the box; and 2) that Apple devices are somehow perfectly good or perfectly reliable, which is simply untrue.
I'm aware Apple's financials don't reflect that they're being beat. That's the problem, don't you see? That's precisely what I'm trying to get at. If all we are going to go by is sales, then yes, the iPhone and iOS must be the greatest smartphone and the most advanced operating system in the world. But we shouldn't just go by sales, should we? Especially when the reality isn't quite so black and white. The reality, in fact, paints quite a different picture. The reality is that Apple has fallen behind both on the hardware front, and the software front. The sales don't reflect this, but the user experience does. And at the end of the day, shouldn't the latter be more important? Shouldn't Apple continue to push so that the latter is the focus, and not the former?
In the meantime it's Samsung that showed the world with good hardware one can have lousy financials.
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Doesn't user experience and sales go hand in hand? 64 bit, Touch ID, and some other things are what Samsung has incorporated after Apple got their first. Maybe Apple should go to removable batteries and sd cards?
As a person who uses both Android Lollipop (Note 4) and iOS8.3 (iPad 4) daily, I must agree that iOS does feel like its many steps behind even when it comes to organiser tools e.g. Calender, I have both my work and personal calenders syncing, and my Note 4 does a far better job in terms of refreshing e.g. when meetings are cancelled or moved, a colleague of mine with an iPhone 6 and iPad 3 arrived at a clients building only to be informed the meeting was cancelled and rescheduled via Email, those of us on Androids (my Note 4 and someone on their old GS2) saw this already in our Calenders and didn't bother going to the client and went straight to work.
Little things like this affect productivity, and I have noticed many times my iPad taking long to update my calendar, so now that is another thing I no longer use my iPad for as I no longer trust the Calendar, all my calendar entries when I am away from the office are done on my Note 4, the S Planner is just a brilliant piece of software. I have also stopped using my iPad for notes, I simply use my Note 4 and the S Pen, granted many Androids incl. S6 don't have that advantage either.
I hope iOS9 does bring more, like true multitasking, better calendar and On-Body Detection Smart Lock which I am also finding a great feature in Android that is lacking in iOS.
Little things like this affect productivity, and I have noticed many times my iPad taking long to update my calendar, so now that is another thing I no longer use my iPad for as I no longer trust the Calendar, all my calendar entries when I am away from the office are done on my Note 4, the S Planner is just a brilliant piece of software. I have also stopped using my iPad for notes, I simply use my Note 4 and the S Pen, granted many Androids incl. S6 don't have that advantage either.
I hope iOS9 does bring more, like true multitasking, better calendar and On-Body Detection Smart Lock which I am also finding a great feature in Android that is lacking in iOS.
Specifically what has apple fallen behind on? What can you do on Android that you cant do on IOS?
I agree and disagree to some extent. I think people are indeed looking at the competition with a newfound interest, in part thanks to Samsung, in part thanks to Google, in part thanks to MS, in part thanks to more affordable options, and many other reasons.
However, I wouldn't agree that the bubble is that easy to pop. If anything, people are flocking to iPhones in droves, despite what Samsung/HTC or others may be offering. The Apple branding is incredibly strong. I don't think people here realize just how strong it is...
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Those two things would fall under "competition catching up" that I mentioned in my posts. I think it's a shame you would argue that Apple doesn't need to compete harder or push the envelope further because people are still buying their phones in record numbers. That is a dangerous mentality to rest on, but so be it.
I still agree with Technarchy and the others; the iPhone doesn't feel up to snuff when using some of the competition's devices/software.
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Search for a video of TouchWiz features. That'll be just the start of the answer to your question.
I agree.
When I switched to the OnePlus and discovered all that Android is and was capable of, I was astounded but how much easier it was to accomplish things be it productivity or just simple things like getting quick information or quickly toggling something on and off.
Not to mention, simply navigating through the device. The back button is a tremendous advantage to iOS' method of navigating the iPhone. iOS has no dedicated back button, and so must rely on software to navigate back. This can mean a back or "return" or "cancel" button that is either placed in the top left or right corner, sometimes lower corners, or in a few rare instances, as a button somewhere on the screen. And in a few places, you can gesture to go back. How is this a consistent experience? Whereas the back button on Android is always there. Always.
There are still a few key advantages that iOS has over Android, but the distance I think has shrunk in the past year and will continue to shrink. The Play store is comparable to the App Store minus a few exclusives. And the few people who still cling to iOS purely because of iMessage cannot help make me think of people who clung onto Blackberry devices because of BBM (okay okay, to be fair, the comparison isn't THAT exact because Blackberry is a whole 'nother level of bad. Ha). That isn't a fair comparison, but you get what I mean.
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I've said before that if the iPhone wasn't made by Apple, and if it was made by someone else, it'd be a mid-ranger with a few strong areas. This was more true before the 6/6+ came out, of course.
There have been a number of different threads on the advantages of each platform. Each side claiming to be objective, of course nobody really is.
You are within your right to have the opinion Apple needs to catch up, just as I am of the opinion the entire Apple ecosystem is heads and tails above the competition.
My son has a moto x from a i4 and have used it extensively and just do not like it as it daily driver; so I'm happy with iOS as a platform.
I still dont like the launcher. Nova is just too good to use TW.
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And thats fine. I always say use what you like. iOS for me, just doesnt cut it.
I cant stand how i cant make a custom home pages and just have icons on all of them....which is fine when i just go to the Apps that are in alphabetical order.
iOS is better but imo still has a ways to go. I also dont see anything wrong with the Playstore.