General iOS vs Android - Anyone use both recently?

[840quadra]

I think at this point in time the qualitative and quantitative importance of factors like stability, security, speed/benchmark, eco-system and camera are being overstated. To be objective, I think Android and iOS have narrowed the gap between themselves on these factors to a point that there is really not much significant difference in daily use. Going forward, I think the versus factors will be design, hardware technology (e.g. flexible screen, all-in-one form factor, screen tech, vr, ar etc), new application areas, automation and last but not least price.

On 3DT, the thing is at the moment a lot of the uses for 3DT are no more than replicating the long press popup menu. It kind of wasted really. The 3DT to go home on the Samsung galaxy and 3DT to open task manager in Iphone are the stuff 3DT is good for.

The screenshot you shown, it is very easy to have the same contextual menu on Android as well. Some launchers already implement more command options in the menu. Also, with 3D touch it is more prone to mis-press since a hard tap can be interpreted as 3DT.

Agreed on the points you make regarding both ecosystems, though I don’t agree on 3D Touch at all. Quite honestly, your points regarding 3D Touch, sound similar to others who don’t use it, or really know it’s full capabilities. Yes it can be used for contextual menus, but, it does a lot more within iOS and has more features than simply being used as the touch version of a right click. Even in that use, it is faster than long press, period. Simply because, long press is by design, a longer transaction, since the phones lack the ability to sense pressure, they have to program in a pause so the action doesn’t conflict with a short touch.

You also missed my point of showing those contextual menu examples. I am well aware they can (and do) exist on Android, the point I was making was with regards to differences in mainstream applications between both platforms, and how more finished those apps are on iOS than they are on Android.

At the end of the day, I use both systems daily. Android has some advantages over iOS, and iOS has some advantages over Android. It’s more than just an opinion, as both, factually, have some features the other platform lacks. The importance or impact of those features is all up to the users, but it doesn’t change what exists on the given platforms.

Yeah, I tried to make 3d touch work, but no one honestly looks at iOS and says "Yeah, I want to right click"

That’s fine, it is your use case. Nobody can fault you for that. However, it does far more in iOS than just a right click.

 

[convergent]

I think at this point in time the qualitative and quantitative importance of factors like stability, security, speed/benchmark, eco-system and camera are being overstated. To be objective, I think Android and iOS have narrowed the gap between themselves on these factors to a point that there is really not much significant difference in daily use. Going forward, I think the versus factors will be design, hardware technology (e.g. flexible screen, all-in-one form factor, screen tech, vr, ar etc), new application areas, automation and last but not least price.

On 3DT, the thing is at the moment a lot of the uses for 3DT are no more than replicating the long press popup menu. It kind of wasted really. The 3DT to go home on the Samsung galaxy and 3DT to open task manager in Iphone are the stuff 3DT is good for.

The screenshot you shown, it is very easy to have the same contextual menu on Android as well. Some launchers already implement more command options in the menu. Also, with 3D touch it is more prone to mis-press since a hard tap can be interpreted as 3DT.

I kind of agree with what you've said here. In particular in iOS trying to move icons around 3DT was a pain in the behind because it kept thinking I was doing that instead of trying to move an icon.

That’s fine, it is your use case. Nobody can fault you for that. However, it does far more in iOS than just a right click.

How is 3DT not similar to a right click?

 

[840quadra]

I kind of agree with what you've said here. In particular in iOS trying to move icons around 3DT was a pain in the behind because it kept thinking I was doing that instead of trying to move an icon.

Perhaps don’t press so hard?

Or, better yet, if you dislike and see no use for it, go into Accessibility and completely disable 3D Touch.

How is 3DT not similar to a right click?

You misunderstand my post.

In that singular example, it is absolutely like a right click, however, 3D Touch does far more system wide, far more than just acting like a right click.

 

[convergent]

Perhaps don’t press so hard?

Or, better yet, if you dislike and see no use for it, go into Accessibility and completely disable 3D Touch.

Yeh right, that's my point. Never mastered the ability to do that consistently and it was quite annoying since I moved icons around from time to time and never used 3DT.

You misunderstand my post.

In that singular example, it is absolutely like a right click, however, 3D Touch does far more system wide, far more than just acting like a right click.

I didn't misunderstand... you said again that its far more than right click and didn't say what about it is far more. That was my question.

 

[840quadra]

Yeh right, that's my point. Never mastered the ability to do that consistently and it was quite annoying since I moved icons around from time to time and never used 3DT.



I didn't misunderstand... you said again that its far more than right click and didn't say what about it is far more. That was my question.

Actually you did misunderstand. You also missed some key words.

it does far more in iOS than just a right click

That is in my original post, and your post quoting me. I clearly mentioned it does more in iOS than just a right click.

 

[convergent]

Actually you did misunderstand. You also missed some key words.

That is in my original post, and your post quoting me. I clearly mentioned it does more in iOS than just a right click.

WHAT? I've asked you now 3 times. WHAT does 3DT do that is more than right click???? You keep saying it does more. WHAT more????

 

[elf69]

I used both.

I am biased to android so I'm just putting it out there first!

I had a 6s+ and swapped to the huawei mate9 after a year with the iphone.

I did not swap because was bad phone.
the 6s+ is awesome phone, fast and just worked!
great screen and played my games fine with no lag!
good camera too!

I could not afford bigger one and had a 16GB, well I filled it quickly.
Android has SD card slots, and I needed to use my endoscope which i cannot on iphone as no usb support.

I also find that natively it is easier to move data on and off an android device than apple device.

 

[840quadra]

WHAT? I've asked you now 3 times. WHAT does 3DT do that is more than right click???? You keep saying it does more. WHAT more????

Okay, relax.

Apologies, thought you were questioning what I said, not asking me a question. I am entitled to be a little slow since I haven’t had coffee yet. It’s been a long week.

iMore has a great guide for 3D Touch, though I believe there have been a few items added in iOS 11, and some new apps have taken advantage of the system since this article was posted.

 

[mib1800]

Okay, relax.

Apologies, thought you were questioning what I said, not asking me a question. I am entitled to be a little slow since I haven’t had coffee yet. It’s been a long week.

iMore has a great guide for 3D Touch, though I believe there have been a few items added in iOS 11, and some new apps have taken advantage of the system since this article was posted.

After reading through that, if you take away 3dt and replace it with long press, you can still implement the same functions. So there is no significant advantage with 3dt

 

[840quadra]

After reading through that, if you take away 3dt and replace it with long press, you can still implement the same functions. So there is no significant advantage with 3dt

I disagree simply because of the “long” portion of that press. By design the interaction would be slower, which would take away from the experience.

In addition to that, iOS has a 3rd layer of interaction since it still has long press in many situations, giving the user more input options for a given task.

 

[mib1800]

I disagree simply because of the “long” portion of that press. By design the interaction would be slower, which would take away from the experience.

You are aware the long press duration can be adjusted?

 

[840quadra]

You are aware the long press duration can be adjusted?

Fully. I use a Pixel 2, and iPhone 7 daily.

I also edited my post to include that iOS still has long press, so in many situations it gives the user more input options. Long press an icon on springboard you initiate the ability to move icons, 3D Touch, it pulls up the contextual menu.

In keyboard, long press to get extra characters, 3D Touch to initiate the cursor or selection feature.

Those are just 2 examples.

 

[mi7chy]

• Many iOS only applications (Nothing on Android touches LumaFusion for video editing)

Have you tried Kinemaster or PowerDirector which are considered the top two?

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nexstreaming.app.kinemasterfree

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cyberlink.powerdirector.DRA140225_01

 

[840quadra]

Have you tried Kinemaster or PowerDirector which are considered the top two?

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nexstreaming.app.kinemasterfree

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cyberlink.powerdirector.DRA140225_01

I like KineMaster, it is actually a good app though I would argue that it isn’t as polished as LumaFusion. It is also double the price ($40), or a $5 monthly subscription.

I hadn’t considered PowerDirector and will give it a look. Thanks for the links!

 

[convergent]

Okay, relax.

Apologies, thought you were questioning what I said, not asking me a question. I am entitled to be a little slow since I haven’t had coffee yet. It’s been a long week.

iMore has a great guide for 3D Touch, though I believe there have been a few items added in iOS 11, and some new apps have taken advantage of the system since this article was posted.

lol... I'm on the east coast so was a couple cups of coffee ahead of you.

I checked out that link. A lot of stuff you can do with it, no doubt. I had it on my iPhone since it was made available and I guess I was aware that a lot of that stuff was there, but other than fiddling with it a few times was never muscle memory. I would bet that the vast, vast majority of iPhone owners aren't aware that most of that stuff is there. Goes to how non intuitive it is. The right click is intuitive, and that is what I tried most... and it most cases the options were nothing special and I'd end up in the app anyways, so just go there quicker. Also, many of the things you can do with 3DT you can do just as easily on an Android device using some other means. For example, widgets you can have on your home screen in Android so you don't need 3DT to access it. I have temp, steps, weather, and time/date on my home screen. My Note 8 also has a edge menu that lets me access a ton of stuff, and its more intuitive to me than trying to remember that if I 3DT and swipe in some spot I'll get some hidden function. I would really be curious what the adoption rate of most of 3DT is across the millions of iPhone owners. I bet it is very small.

 

[840quadra]

lol... I'm on the east coast so was a couple cups of coffee ahead of you.

I checked out that link. A lot of stuff you can do with it, no doubt. I had it on my iPhone since it was made available and I guess I was aware that a lot of that stuff was there, but other than fiddling with it a few times was never muscle memory. I would bet that the vast, vast majority of iPhone owners aren't aware that most of that stuff is there. Goes to how non intuitive it is. The right click is intuitive, and that is what I tried most... and it most cases the options were nothing special and I'd end up in the app anyways, so just go there quicker. Also, many of the things you can do with 3DT you can do just as easily on an Android device using some other means. For example, widgets you can have on your home screen in Android so you don't need 3DT to access it. I have temp, steps, weather, and time/date on my home screen. My Note 8 also has a edge menu that lets me access a ton of stuff, and its more intuitive to me than trying to remember that if I 3DT and swipe in some spot I'll get some hidden function. I would really be curious what the adoption rate of most of 3DT is across the millions of iPhone owners. I bet it is very small.

I really like 3DT, and agree with your assessment of it likely not being used by many people. People I have encountered thought there was a bug with their Springboard when it would bring up a contextual menu or something similar in other apps. Overall, I kinda put it into the same realm as changing launchers, ringtones, or enabling advanced features on the android side of the camp. Most general consumers don’t really bother.

Once you get used to interacting with a Mobile OS using touch, long press, and 3D / force touch, it is hard to go back to the other ways. It’s honestly the biggest thing I miss when using my Pixel. But, Android makes up for it in so many other ways, including widgets on the home screen, or, the ability to change your home screen to so many different configurations.

EDIT

I do use contextual menus in both platforms, because some of the shortcuts are super useful to me. For instance, in Netflix the contextual menu gives me the option to directly resume my previously played Netflix video. For whatever reason, their Android version lacks this button in it’s Long Press options. It’s a true timesaver sometimes when Netflix is trying to showcase something in their header, forcing me to open the app, scroll down to the continue watching section, wherever they decide to put it that given day.

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

lol... I'm on the east coast so was a couple cups of coffee ahead of you.

I checked out that link. A lot of stuff you can do with it, no doubt. I had it on my iPhone since it was made available and I guess I was aware that a lot of that stuff was there, but other than fiddling with it a few times was never muscle memory. I would bet that the vast, vast majority of iPhone owners aren't aware that most of that stuff is there. Goes to how non intuitive it is. The right click is intuitive, and that is what I tried most... and it most cases the options were nothing special and I'd end up in the app anyways, so just go there quicker. Also, many of the things you can do with 3DT you can do just as easily on an Android device using some other means. For example, widgets you can have on your home screen in Android so you don't need 3DT to access it. I have temp, steps, weather, and time/date on my home screen. My Note 8 also has a edge menu that lets me access a ton of stuff, and its more intuitive to me than trying to remember that if I 3DT and swipe in some spot I'll get some hidden function. I would really be curious what the adoption rate of most of 3DT is across the millions of iPhone owners. I bet it is very small.

When it comes to the icon contextual menu, 3DT is no better than long pressing. And yes, I still haven't got used to touching the icon with just the right amount of force to move icon or delete apps, which can be annoying.

But when it comes to previewing web links and photo gallery thumbnails, 3DT is so worth it.

 

[ScubaCinci]

Well...bought an S8+ tonight...now to charge and get it set up and data migrated.

 

[AustinIllini]

Well...bought an S8+ tonight...now to charge and get it set up and data migrated.

Enjoy the phone in good health! Share impressions!

 

[jamezr]

Well...bought an S8+ tonight...now to charge and get it set up and data migrated.

Couple of things when coming to Android from IOS
1) Sync all of your calendar and contacts to Google. Set Google as your default for those services on your Apple devices so they all sync
2) If you have playlists and bought music, ringtones and such in iTunes...then download iSyncr on your main computer (Mac or Windows) and Android phone and it will sync all your playlists and music to your Android phone.
3) download and install Google Chrome browser on your home PC and Android phone and sync all your bookmarks so they will be the same on all your devices.

 

[KingslayerG5]

"One side values stability, ease of use, and simplicity. This is Apple's iOS."

"The other side values openness, choice, and customization. This is Google's Android."

I'm a tinkerer and I knew this in my heart after only 5 days owning a first gen iPod touch back in 2008. I wanted to jailbreak it out of boredom. But I didn't love Android right away. It wasn't love at first sight. It took time but once it matured and my knowledge matured with it, I knew I would never leave Android.

File explorer and customizing to make it look and act like I prefer is why I stayed. I don't like uniformity. I want my homescreen to standout and not look cartoony like iOS. But do I still like iOS? Of course! I started from there. Android wouldn't be where they are today without iOS. SE makes a nice iPod.

Dagogo's 3D UI themes look great.

 

[mikef07]

Sorry but this Android is complete garbage as far as I am concerned. My son forgot his pattern password on his S7. We ended up having to do a factory reset and had to reset his gmail password. When we reset his phone they wanted the password to his gmail account. Since we just changed it that was easy to remember. Now he has to wait 24 hours to use his phone because it won't accept this new password for 24 hours.

Complete garbage. Lesson learned. iphone only going forward.

 

[AustinIllini]

Sorry but this Android is complete garbage as far as I am concerned. My son forgot his pattern password on his S7. We ended up having to do a factory reset and had to reset his gmail password. When we reset his phone they wanted the password to his gmail account. Since we just changed it that was easy to remember. Now he has to wait 24 hours to use his phone because it won't accept this new password for 24 hours.

Complete garbage. Lesson learned. iphone only going forward.

Forgetting your password isn't all that much better in iPhone.

This whole story is super strange. Who is they?

 

[mikef07]

Forgetting your password isn't all that much better in iPhone.

This whole story is super strange. Who is they?

They would be the phone I guess. I have to enter the password in. We have forgotten a password on an iphone before and I agree that it is a pain no matter what however once you get everything figured out you don't have to wait 24 hours.

I am not sure what was strange about it. Reset phone, must enter password, since it was recovery reset you must wait 24 hours.

 

[convergent]

Sorry but this Android is complete garbage as far as I am concerned. My son forgot his pattern password on his S7. We ended up having to do a factory reset and had to reset his gmail password. When we reset his phone they wanted the password to his gmail account. Since we just changed it that was easy to remember. Now he has to wait 24 hours to use his phone because it won't accept this new password for 24 hours.

Complete garbage. Lesson learned. iphone only going forward.

How in the world does your son forgetting his password equate to Android is garbage? That has to be one of the most ridulous and nonsensical excuses I've ever heard. You are really clueless.

FYI, my daughter bought an iPhone 8 several weeks ago and couldn't use it for 14 days because she couldn't remember her Apple password and needed to reset it. So your logic is wrong. She was physically in an Apple store with photo ID, and still had to wait 14 days.

Better yet. Apple replaced my iPhone 6s+ in the Apple Store and I couldn't use it because of the two factor authentication sending me something on my Mac at home that I needed to respond to. So I'm in the Apple Store, with my iPhone, with my photo ID, and know my Apple password, and had to wait until I traveled back home hours later.

So you may want to rethink your Android is garbage argument.