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For those of you who have experienced both, do you prefer iPhone or Android? Why?
- Thread starter kailibur
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You would have to spend more time than a store visit to decide if you like a android phone. 30 minutes is not enough time to learn the flaws of a device.
Androids aren't a bad phone, the operating system still needs some time to catch up to Apples iOS. Things I noticed when I had my Galaxy sIII. Apps always seem to force close, battery life was affected because of the gadgets that keep certain apps open and theres no iTunes. No bueno. Adding music, movies and pictures take more work than it should.
Galaxy phones keep improving while iPhones hardly change, they must find it hard to be innovative. You should wait until they release the new iPhone "5s." Then, make your decision or ask a friend to trade phones for a month. I did that with my sister and she ended up keeping my 4s... I was stuck buying a new iPhone 5.
Androids aren't a bad phone, the operating system still needs some time to catch up to Apples iOS. Things I noticed when I had my Galaxy sIII. Apps always seem to force close, battery life was affected because of the gadgets that keep certain apps open and theres no iTunes. No bueno. Adding music, movies and pictures take more work than it should.
Galaxy phones keep improving while iPhones hardly change, they must find it hard to be innovative. You should wait until they release the new iPhone "5s." Then, make your decision or ask a friend to trade phones for a month. I did that with my sister and she ended up keeping my 4s... I was stuck buying a new iPhone 5.
Personally, I hate iTunes and find it to be the worst software apple has ever created, I delete it from every computer I have. The music has parts of the sound cut out to save space, and the videos are laced with tons of DRM.
I used a Samsung Galaxy S2 for a year.
I liked playing around with it, tweaks and settings and roms and stuff. But ultimately as a daily driver I prefer my iphone for its stability, better battery life, and closed off environment to apps. I know itunes gets ripped on a lot, but I think its a great software, I have managed to use 75% of its functions so bloated, yes, but ultimately very useful. And I have a good enough computer that itunes does not become a problem.
I liked playing around with it, tweaks and settings and roms and stuff. But ultimately as a daily driver I prefer my iphone for its stability, better battery life, and closed off environment to apps. I know itunes gets ripped on a lot, but I think its a great software, I have managed to use 75% of its functions so bloated, yes, but ultimately very useful. And I have a good enough computer that itunes does not become a problem.
I am currently using both an iPhone 5 and my Galaxy S4. A decades long Apple enthusiast I'm disappointed that Apples fallen so far behind in performance, functionality and display size. Currently my absolute favorite is my Android phone. It's super fast, fun and easy to use.
Instead of having to drill down through settings to make various adjustments like toggling wifi or brightness or any of 15 other settings, on my Galaxy S4 it's a simple one click away by pulling down the notification panel. Extremely well thought out that Apples copied some of these features to make IOS 7 a relevant upgrade.
Yet it's still going to be constrained by the tiny physical size and small narrow display. Once you've used a full width 5" display and found out how much nicer it us to have working room it's a very compelling advantage.
I'm thinking in a year or two Apple will catch up, and if they focus there's a good chance they may return to the lead again.
Instead of having to drill down through settings to make various adjustments like toggling wifi or brightness or any of 15 other settings, on my Galaxy S4 it's a simple one click away by pulling down the notification panel. Extremely well thought out that Apples copied some of these features to make IOS 7 a relevant upgrade.
Yet it's still going to be constrained by the tiny physical size and small narrow display. Once you've used a full width 5" display and found out how much nicer it us to have working room it's a very compelling advantage.
I'm thinking in a year or two Apple will catch up, and if they focus there's a good chance they may return to the lead again.
I'm using the iPhone 5 and gs4 both, imo one is a clear winner. It just depends on what your needs are, some people claim that iOS is more polished and have less crashing but I find that to be inaccurate. I haven't had issues with an android phone in years, most problems that come up are generally avoidable, exact same with my current iphone. I could practically crash my gs4 or iPhone on demand if I wanted to, but for normal everyday use they both work well. If you still want to know what phone I prefer for my own personal needs, it's hands down a gs4, that's like comparing a 3 year old laptop to a brand new gaming laptop.
Mixed feelings on the subject. I prefer iOS over Android. In my experience it's much smoother, less buggy, and easier to use.
When it comes to iPhones vs Android phones/hardware.. I prefer Android phones. I will never touch another iPhone again until Apple figures out how great large screens are.
When it comes to iPhones vs Android phones/hardware.. I prefer Android phones. I will never touch another iPhone again until Apple figures out how great large screens are.
Prefer iOS for many things
Prefer android for others...
android.. Choice for device size and screen size and app drawer to hide my apps, and easy customisability.
I don't use file managers on android, I don't load custom roms, and use only weather calendar or clock widget.
IOS.. Update rollout, integration with mac hardware, speed & fluidty despite lower specs, apple's camera is always one of the best each year,.
Ideal scenario for me based on my usage...
4.3-4.7" iPhone, 13mp camera, 32-64gb storage, iOS but with improved customisation and integration of an app drawer and possible widget (at least a way to add clock or weather, calendar event to home screen).
Until then any device I own will offer compromises of some variation.
Prefer android for others...
android.. Choice for device size and screen size and app drawer to hide my apps, and easy customisability.
I don't use file managers on android, I don't load custom roms, and use only weather calendar or clock widget.
IOS.. Update rollout, integration with mac hardware, speed & fluidty despite lower specs, apple's camera is always one of the best each year,.
Ideal scenario for me based on my usage...
4.3-4.7" iPhone, 13mp camera, 32-64gb storage, iOS but with improved customisation and integration of an app drawer and possible widget (at least a way to add clock or weather, calendar event to home screen).
Until then any device I own will offer compromises of some variation.
Plugging a USB cable into a computer and dragging files into a window doesn't seem like much work...
Except at times I find Android file transfer stops working or I have to toggle USB debugging switch in developer options to get t to work properly. Annoying halfway through trying to copy something or delete something.
Kies & HTC Sync are both truly awful and sluggish. iTunes may not be great on a PC but I've never had a problem with it on a mac.
I now use iSyncr, but have too found if I leave it running in 10.8.3 it fecks up the mac from reading contents on USB sticks. So still buggy and painful and not ideal.
DoubleTwist and Air Sync would be grand if I felt I needed 'another' music player & widgets on my Android device, but with google play music and stock music app I don't. So adding yet another programme to the mix just to get another syncing solution is again not ideal.... (Why not just offer air sync solely for syncing?)
So far with Android I have yet to find a 'great trouble free' solution for syncing with my mac.
I prefer Android because it allows more control over your device, I see someone mentioned adding music and videos took "more work than it should". I drag and drop my files across. If I really wanted to I could sync it with Windows Media Player.
With iOS you have to convert it to a format it'll play, move into iTunes, then sync. On my Android phone I plugged my phone into my computer and dragged some videos in, ranging from .wmv .avi etc. Formats iOS refuses to play. VLC is still allowed on the Google Play Store so I can watch virtually any format.
I love how I can choose my default apps, it got very annoying being emailed a link, tapping it and having Safari open, only to have to copy and paste the link into Chrome. I hated what a chore it was to add my own ringtones into it. I had to snip a file down to 30 seconds, convert it to .m4a and rename it .m4r only to have to drag back into iTunes and sync again. In Android I can move any audio file into my "ringtones" folder and I'm done. One I had experienced this freedom it would be hard for me to do back. I also love the little things, like being able to download any files in the web browser.
With iOS you have to convert it to a format it'll play, move into iTunes, then sync. On my Android phone I plugged my phone into my computer and dragged some videos in, ranging from .wmv .avi etc. Formats iOS refuses to play. VLC is still allowed on the Google Play Store so I can watch virtually any format.
I love how I can choose my default apps, it got very annoying being emailed a link, tapping it and having Safari open, only to have to copy and paste the link into Chrome. I hated what a chore it was to add my own ringtones into it. I had to snip a file down to 30 seconds, convert it to .m4a and rename it .m4r only to have to drag back into iTunes and sync again. In Android I can move any audio file into my "ringtones" folder and I'm done. One I had experienced this freedom it would be hard for me to do back. I also love the little things, like being able to download any files in the web browser.
I prefer Android because of intents, broadcast receivers and programs like tasker or different keyboards
It totally depends on what your requirements are.
Are u comfortable with small size of the iphone?. Do you need quality apps for a specific niche?. Then of course, iphone is the answer.
But if u want a larger screen and can compromise on the fact that u wont get all quality apps tailored for a segment , android is the answer.
If you read their post again, you'll see that they never stated the music has DRM (although music on iTunes did have DRM)
I currently have an iPhone 4 and Nexus 7. I prefer Android for a few reasons and my next phone will absolutely not be an iPhone. Right now, the main reason is simply that Android phones and tablets have the best hardware. The Galaxy S4 is just a better phone than the iPhone 5 as far as I'm concerned.
But as for Android itself, I like it because it's far closer to a full computer than iOS is. For a quick everyday example of why this should matter to you, let's say you've got Dropbox open and you want to upload some files. If you're on Android that's not a problem, you can browse your filesystem, find the files you want to upload, and that's that. But if you're on iOS you can only upload photos. That's it.
It's just little details like that which make Android much less of a pain in the ass to use than iOS.
And of course, if you're a geek, the fact that Android is far more customisable wins over everything else. Nothing is limiting what you can do with your own phone. You can change the launcher or even flash a custom version of the OS. No such option on iOS.
Finally, Android gets better updates. People like to say that iOS is better for this, but that isn't the case, iOS merely has better official support at the expense of features. You can flash Jelly Bean on the G1 if you want. You can't run iOS 7 on the OG iPhone. And with iOS 7 on the iPhone 4 you can bet half the new features won't be there. New versions of Android on current phones always include every feature.
But as for Android itself, I like it because it's far closer to a full computer than iOS is. For a quick everyday example of why this should matter to you, let's say you've got Dropbox open and you want to upload some files. If you're on Android that's not a problem, you can browse your filesystem, find the files you want to upload, and that's that. But if you're on iOS you can only upload photos. That's it.
It's just little details like that which make Android much less of a pain in the ass to use than iOS.
And of course, if you're a geek, the fact that Android is far more customisable wins over everything else. Nothing is limiting what you can do with your own phone. You can change the launcher or even flash a custom version of the OS. No such option on iOS.
Finally, Android gets better updates. People like to say that iOS is better for this, but that isn't the case, iOS merely has better official support at the expense of features. You can flash Jelly Bean on the G1 if you want. You can't run iOS 7 on the OG iPhone. And with iOS 7 on the iPhone 4 you can bet half the new features won't be there. New versions of Android on current phones always include every feature.
iPhone weather apps tend to be really experimental to the point where the usage isn't very good. I mean, they look beautiful, but they aren't good for just quickly referencing how it's going to be outside. They also tend to carry $0.99-4.99 price tags, which I don't think is remotely worth it when they're all using different APIs that can break the next day.
The freebie weather apps aren't that great, besides Yahoo and like one or two others. I think this is where iOS is most lacking, because there's EZ Weather, the free version of BeWeather, and Eye In Sky Weather, and they all look 99% better than most of the freebies for iPhone and iPad which have ugly maps, ugly fonts, etc.
So in that aspect I enjoy Android more.
The freebie weather apps aren't that great, besides Yahoo and like one or two others. I think this is where iOS is most lacking, because there's EZ Weather, the free version of BeWeather, and Eye In Sky Weather, and they all look 99% better than most of the freebies for iPhone and iPad which have ugly maps, ugly fonts, etc.
So in that aspect I enjoy Android more.
New versions of Android don't get released across all Android devices simultaneously... and half the time phones don't even get the latest update at all. The android store is also very fragmented with the trillions of devices out there running it. "Features" aside... this is an issue with the apps themselves... and sometimes you don't even get certain apps on certain devices due to delayed development. This isn't an issue with iOS. Devs can release new app versions across multiple iDevices very easily,.. and usually the iOS version of an app is of higher quality. Then you go on to talk about flashing ROMs. Might as well include jailbreaking iOS... which will allow you most of the features of Android anyway. And I'm not even going to get into stability.
Regardless of all that... both still have their pros and cons. If it weren't for the apps, I might consider Android... but there aren't comparable apps for me.
I prefer iPhone fit my phone, because I don't use my phone like a computer to tinker on, but for a tablet I prefer android. In fact I replaced the head unit in my car with a nexus 7.
Display size is an Apple design choice. That attribute does not mean Apple has fallen behind.
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I'm currently using an Android (Samsung Galaxy S2). I will be making the switch to an iPhone in the Fall when my contract expires. Like you I am looking for a different experience. That does not necessarily mean there is anything wrong with Android. One thing I don't like about Android is the time it takes to upgrade the software - read here. Its really annoying.
The other reason for making the switch is I want my tablet, phone, computer and music player to be in the same eco system. These attributes in Android are fragmented.
Bottom line, every person is different. What I like and what you may like might not be the same. I'll probably end up switching back to Android in three years or you might make to switch and end up switching back to IOS. Its six of one and half a dozen of the other.
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Right now I prefer iOS but I must say I am impressed by the Nexus 4 of my girlfriend. I had an Samsung Galaxy S3 but switched back to iPhone about 2 weeks ago.
Altho i do like Android a lot, I prefer iOS in the end. It all comes down to day to day use.
1. Widgets are cool, but in the end pretty useless for me:
I want widgets for my mail, spotify, facebook, ... things like that.
* The mail widget is useless. Either you put it on fetch and you have your new emails in your widget but you lose lots of battery and date or you let your widget search the emails by 'tapping' it. But the widget itself has too little options to really be usefull. So I end up opening the email app anyway.
* Same thing with the Facebook app. I can "Tap to Post" on my iPhone quicker then I would make a post on my S3. Furthermore, the widget on my S3 did not update correctly like it should've. The posts "got stuck" in time.
* The Spotify widget worked fine but did not show up on the lock screen. So whats the point anyway. iOS music controls take over the app, which is way more usefull.
* A quick widget for weather is build in, in iOS also. The weather widget on my S3 used a lot of battery and made the phone stutter.
* It's a pain to find decent looking widgets that are somewhat comparable to eachother. The all look different and it's difficult to make your homescreens look somewhat attractive. I ended up removing them all. They were ugly.
* Calendar widget is very useful tho!
* Camera access on the lock screen on my iPhone is super handy.
2. Quick toggles are very handy but will be in iOS 7, so nothing lost there.
3. Animations are and speed is more consistent on iOS
* Android can be slow sometimes. My S3 was a quadcore phone but apparently moving through the homescreens while widgets were installed, made the phone lag. Which is pretty upsettings considering the price. Facebook Chatheads are super handy but made my phone run out of RAM So I switched them off.
4. I hate touch buttons but apparently nobody agrees with me since it's a trend At least Samsung still gives us one real button below the screen. You can take pictures with the iPhone with the volume button, which is again super handy.
But...
5. It's easier to share stuff on Android. It's annoying to be in your photo gallery on your iPhone and not being able to share your photo directly to someone on Whatsapp. This is still the most hated thing for me of iOS. Can't I just freaking get some stuff on/off an SD card? Can't I just download and open something in another app? It's all a bit too app centric. It's not that bad on an iPhone, but on the iPad, you want to be able to do more stuff and Apple complicates things.
Overall, I think iOS is more useful.
Altho i do like Android a lot, I prefer iOS in the end. It all comes down to day to day use.
1. Widgets are cool, but in the end pretty useless for me:
I want widgets for my mail, spotify, facebook, ... things like that.
* The mail widget is useless. Either you put it on fetch and you have your new emails in your widget but you lose lots of battery and date or you let your widget search the emails by 'tapping' it. But the widget itself has too little options to really be usefull. So I end up opening the email app anyway.
* Same thing with the Facebook app. I can "Tap to Post" on my iPhone quicker then I would make a post on my S3. Furthermore, the widget on my S3 did not update correctly like it should've. The posts "got stuck" in time.
* The Spotify widget worked fine but did not show up on the lock screen. So whats the point anyway. iOS music controls take over the app, which is way more usefull.
* A quick widget for weather is build in, in iOS also. The weather widget on my S3 used a lot of battery and made the phone stutter.
* It's a pain to find decent looking widgets that are somewhat comparable to eachother. The all look different and it's difficult to make your homescreens look somewhat attractive. I ended up removing them all. They were ugly.
* Calendar widget is very useful tho!
* Camera access on the lock screen on my iPhone is super handy.
2. Quick toggles are very handy but will be in iOS 7, so nothing lost there.
3. Animations are and speed is more consistent on iOS
* Android can be slow sometimes. My S3 was a quadcore phone but apparently moving through the homescreens while widgets were installed, made the phone lag. Which is pretty upsettings considering the price. Facebook Chatheads are super handy but made my phone run out of RAM
So I switched them off. 4. I hate touch buttons but apparently nobody agrees with me since it's a trend
At least Samsung still gives us one real button below the screen. You can take pictures with the iPhone with the volume button, which is again super handy. But...
5. It's easier to share stuff on Android. It's annoying to be in your photo gallery on your iPhone and not being able to share your photo directly to someone on Whatsapp. This is still the most hated thing for me of iOS. Can't I just freaking get some stuff on/off an SD card? Can't I just download and open something in another app? It's all a bit too app centric. It's not that bad on an iPhone, but on the iPad, you want to be able to do more stuff and Apple complicates things.
Overall, I think iOS is more useful.
The vast majority of Android smartphones have bootloaders that can be unlocked so you can flash a newer version of Android that isn't officially released for the device. There is no parallel for this on iOS.