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Other I have an ipad and an android phone. What would I gain from getting an iPhone?
- Thread starter gdourado
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It's an opinion based on personal experience.
And I'm a bit surprised to read the posts about redundancy.
I have an iPhone 7+, an iPad Air 2, a MacBook Prop (13), and a Mac mini.
Of them, the MBP is the redundant one in my workflow. I just don't use it near as much as the others. My iPad is my on-the-go computing device for all my needs (mostly web, reading, and writing).
I started out on Android (a Vibrant). I upgraded from that to a Nexus S. I found I was rooting them and flashing them with new ROMs nearly every weekend, but not getting carrier-/manufacturer-approved system updates drove me crazy. Like, the Galaxy S10 is getting announced in a few weeks and the Galaxy S9 doesn't even yet run the most up-to-date version of Android (Pie), and there's no announcement it's on the way to US carriers yet (only Canadian).
I jailbroke an iPhone to run on T-Mobile, then switched to AT&T when T-Mobile tried to get bought by them. I figured even my carrier wanted AT&T, so it was a no-brainer, and Apple products and services still just work. I don't have to spend a weekend trying to download obscure programs like R3DSN0W or purple poison or whatever to make sure that my device is awesome.
That's what you gain from getting an iPhone. Better, up-to-date software that prioritizes security and privacy. I don't really trust Google any more than Facebook at this point, and I still haven't seen an Android handset whose design has impressed me. Samsungs look like cartoons, and Huawei's recent troubles make me wary of the company, though its watches were nice when they did those.
What app(s) do you use for writing? I can't seem to make the iPad Pro work for on-the-go computing...it exists solely for PDF annotating and reading (and an expensive existence, at that). Word feels very strange and hard to use on the iPad to me. I'm a slave to the MBA's trackpad.
Mostly Pages. The Pages continuity shines in the Mac ecosystem.
Note I don't edit much on my iPad. It's for writing. Like with handwriting -- you don't go back to change over what you've written, just keep going. MAYBE make a note of intending to "fix" something later. (I put "fix" in quotation marks because sometimes I highlight something meaning to "fix" it, and then when it comes time to do so, I read it and think, "No idea what I was thinking. That reads perfectly well.")
I have a few other apps. Final Draft, and a couple of things like ByWord and Omm that I really haven't used much.
But with Pages, I can use it on my iPad, or via the cloud on my work computer while on break. And the document that's open on my desktop at home simply updates automatically. I love that.
I kind of like that it doesn't have a trackpad, because it reduces the likelihood that I'll use it to scroll up and edit something rather than just keep going.
I used iPhones until the iPhone 6. Used Android after that and never thought I would be able to go back to iPhone. I loved using custom ROMs and tweaking my phone all the time. Over time I stopped caring about those things. Even customizations was kept to a minimal. I started using my phone for what it really is.. a phone. I open and close apps, web browsing, texting, watch content. I stopped customizing, I stopped tweaking, flashing different ROMs. Decided to go back to iPhone because it does everything I need a phone to do better than Android. Took me a bit of time to adjust back because Android had minor features that makes the experience much better for the user where iOS makes you jump through hoops to get it to do certain tasks.
Just bit the bullet and bought an iPhone today.
Since I didn’t want to break the bank, I got a used iPhone 7 to try it out.
It’s not top of the line but it should handle pretty good with the a10 Soc. got it for 250 for the 128 gb version.
Typing from it now.
Just finished setting it up and placed my sim in it.
Going to use it for the week to see how it handles compared to my android.
Since I didn’t want to break the bank, I got a used iPhone 7 to try it out.
It’s not top of the line but it should handle pretty good with the a10 Soc. got it for 250 for the 128 gb version.
Typing from it now.
Just finished setting it up and placed my sim in it.
Going to use it for the week to see how it handles compared to my android.
Enjoy!
And after a week, do let us know whether you have perceived having gained (or lost) anything. I haven't used Android this decade, so I'd be very curious how it holds up.
@gdourado, good for you! Not too much invested & a very reliable choice. I still won't go back to iPhone as of this moment since my Note 9 has been the best phone I've ever owned... So far!
Android & the phones with Android OS have come a long way in the past 10 years..
Keep us posted on what you like or don't like with the iPhone.
Not much feedback yet.
Yesterday I got the phone and did the initial setup and installed my apps and accounts.
What I find so far is that the os is smooth and somehow the keyboard seems more precise.
Despite the screen being smaller, and thus the keys are smaller, I seem to do less typos on the iPhone. It just feels more precise. On the android keyboard I usually inserted lots of dots instead of spaces.
I’ve tried many third party keyboards on android and none of them have been as precise as the iPhone keyboard. I make a lot more mistakes and it takes me a lot longer when typing on android devices. Even if I use swipe.
As far as I've read, Apple's multi-touch screens are best in class. It's been a long while since I've seen it come up and I'm sure Android handset manufacturers have made significant strides toward catching up, but I remember several years ago seeing articles about tracing patterns on screens and device recognition; Apple's always performed better, regardless of phone or tablet.
For me, this is part of why I favor Apple products. There's arguably not one single feature where Apple bests all other manufacturers, and indeed there are several features Apple doesn't yet support (like always-on screens, which came up earlier). But there are little things (multi-touch. ProMotion. Etc.) that in cumulative effect (for me) make for a better experience.
I like to use Swiftkey keyboard on both Android and iPhone. Once you learn that swype style (you don;t have to use it though), you can compose text quickly.
You can change the size of the keyboard without changing the text size everywhere on your iPhone.
You can change the size of the keyboard without changing the text size everywhere on your iPhone.