iPhone 5 falling behind Android or catching up?

[dmelgar]

I'm reading non-stop negative press on this board, in the news, media, everywhere. Not sure why.

There's a narative that says the iPhone 5 is not a big update. That its finally falling behind Android competition.

Yet this doesn't seem obvious to me, at least not now.

I left the iPhone/iOS back when I had an iPhone 3G. I went and bought an HTC Incredible. When I left, here are the advantages that Android had over iOS.

1. Flash. Was a big selling point to view lots of apps. Suing Apple for saying you got the whole internet. Could watch flash video which was everywhere.
2. Turn by turn navigation. Was huge benefit. No option on iOS, not even 3rd party apps at the time.
3. Notifications. iOS didn't have the ability to queue them up. It was only an alert.
4. Background tasks: Back then, iOS couldn't do any user programs in the background. No Pandora, no Skype, no VOIP, nothing.
5. Voice recognition: Anywhere you could type you could use google's voice recognition.
6. Web browser text resizing: This is the one feature I still like in Android. Text in the browser can be made arbitrarily bigger by zooming in. It reflows the column.
7. LTE: I bought an HTC Thunderbolt early last year. The first of many LTE phones.

So here we are three years later, and NOW I hear that Apple has dropped the ball and fallen behind. Now?

1. Flash: Adobe is no longer supporting nor shipping on new Android phones. The web is rapidly moving away from flash (thankfully).
2. Turn by turn navigation: I love it, works well for me. Siri integration is awesome. Better than anything I could find on the phones I owned or even the S3 which I recently bought and tried.
3. Notifications: iOS added it.
4. Background tasks: iOS added it in a better more difficult way. Does not hurt battery life. Background tasks on Android are the reason for dismal battery life. Causes you to have to run juice defender, app killers etc.
5. Voice recognition: Check, iOS added it. Siri I think is superior to anything I've seen in the Android world.
6. Web browser text resize: iOS text still too small. That may be why folks don't like the iPhone 5. They don't want to admit they can't see the small text. If apple won't make a bigger screen phone, they need to allow bigger text.
7. LTE: check, iPhone 5 adds it.

So from here, it looks like iOS is a much better choice now than it was 3 years ago. Yet all of a sudden folks are claiming that NOW iOS has fallen behind Android.

What am I missing?

Edit: Forgot another missing feature from 3 years ago. iPhone was only available on AT&T and AT&T coverage is poor at my home, so I wanted to get Verizon.

 

[SomeDudeAsking]

Apple Maps is a big draw back. Gets you lost frequently. As well, the UI of iOS looks very, very stale and out of date compared to Android UI.

 

[thefredelement]

It's easy to feel at home and use both, but hands down have to give the apps edge to iOS, it's why I got an iPad and am getting an iPhone to replace their android counterparts.

Google Now is a huge leap though, I hope Apple adds something like that in the future, it's very aware and kind of neat.

 

[dmelgar]

Apple Maps is a big draw back. Gets you lost frequently. As well, the UI of iOS looks very, very stale and out of date compared to Android UI.

I hear these words a lot but again I'm not understanding.

"Gets your lost frequently". Hasn't happened to me. I've used it more lately than I ever used it on Android. Been working great. Reroutes quickly. Often comes up with better routes than Google. Maybe it depends on where you're at, because I'm just not seeing all this "getting lost" stuff.

"look very very stale". What does that mean exactly? How is Android fresh and exciting? I see every manufacturer throwing their own UI on it. Inconsistent approaches. Senseless animations. Lots of battery draining widgets that have been there for a while.

The UI in the apps hasn't changed in the same apps. So where else is this amazingly fresh new UI? What useful changes can you really make to it?

Settings has always been a random mishmash of options that varies by phone. Doesn't look particularly good. I can't comment on ICS or later because HTC has reneged to provide it after repeatedly promising they would. ICS & Jellybean aren't available for many phones other than current shipping.

Is this really a style issue? Do you want your phone to changes colors and style every couple of years to look "fresh"?

 

[Ishimaru]

Apple Maps ... Gets you lost frequently.

Any claims to back that up? I've been using it since beta 1 and not once have I gotten lost because of it. Granted I do live in LA, but LA is gigantic and difficult to map. Not once have I gotten lost.

 

[chakraj]

Do you not see that you have answered your own question?

You made a list of features that Android had three years ago, on what is a not so good device.

Now you say, the new 2012 iphone has those old features that Android has had for a long time. Acting like android and the manufacturers have stood still.

So Yes apples new iphone 5 does have the same features as a three year old android phone, but is built fancier.

Now a New android phone, HTC X+ or GS3.......or..... has many more features that the iphone does not have, so yes Android is far ahead of IOS.

SO the new iphone is catching up with OLD android phones, while falling farther behind the new ones.

 

[scaredpoet]

I'm reading non-stop negative press on this board, in the news, media, everywhere. Not sure why.

Two simple reasons:

- Individuals like to feel that a Great Personal Injustice is done to them when their iDevice has an issue, and it must be proclaimed to the world in order to right this wrong. Often times, by the time the thread has reached page 3, the iPhone has been swapped and everything's good again.

You do get the wacko-swapos who are exchanging their iPhone 20 times, but those happen every product cycle, and many times (not always, but many times) the issue really isn't the product.

- Blogs and news sites, eager for page views, will latch onto these complaints and make "gates" out of them. They learned from "antennagate" that reporting on an issue with a phone that people are willing to stand in line for hours over is something that will draw people and generate page views and ad impressions, even if the information is inaccurate, exaggerated, or a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of what some other blog already repeated about the issue.

That's when the echo chamber amplifies it, and suddenly there's this impression that the iPhone 5 is a dud, and Apple will be going out of business any second now. There's no real truth to that conclusion, but every blog writing about it has confirmed one another's writing, and therefore they think it MUST be true.

The same is true about rumors. All the blogs were abuzz when someone "leaked" this concept image back in the summer of 2011:

Even though it looks like something that would be horrible to hold in your hand, and you might even slice a palm with that razor-sharp bottom, everyone thought THIS was going to be the "iPhone 4G" or "iPhone 5" coming out that October. All the blogs ran with it, and someone started making cases, and so suddenly it was "confirmed" that this was it.

Then, when the REAL announcement came, and the iPhone 4S ended up looking almost identical to the iPhone 4, everyone was disappointed. Blogs and forum regulars all claimed Apple didn't live up to their "promises" when in fact, they promised nothing.

People worked themselves into a frenzy, and when these unrealistic rumors didn't pan out, they blamed Apple, claiming they weren't "innovating" enough.

There's a narative that says the iPhone 5 is not a big update. That its finally falling behind Android competition.

Which is pretty much what they said about the 3GS, and the 4, and the 4S...

So from here, it looks like iOS is a much better choice now than it was 3 years ago. Yet all of a sudden folks are claiming that NOW iOS has fallen behind Android.

What am I missing?

Nothing. Just hype and wishful thinking.

 

[XboxMySocks]

Now a New android phone, HTC X+ or GS3.......or..... has many more features that the iphone does not have, so yes Android is far ahead of IOS.

Yes, like huge, unsightly screens that are poorly calibrated and look terrible

 

[TruckdriverSean]

Depends on what your looking for, as it always has.

iOS and the iPhone are built on a minimalist philosophy, and doing things in iOS 6 is still as direct an experience as you would expect, still ball-bearing smooth. Everything is where you would expect it to be.

The iPhone 5's larger display is definitely a nice refinement, especially for watching video, playing games, or otherwise consuming content.

Passbook is interesting, but no more useful than NFC. Airplay is leaps and bounds above trying to deal with DLNA, but it still requires an Apple TV to get the most out of it.

The camera on the iPhone 5 is out front again (except for the Nokia 808), but you do have to be mindful of lens flare. Built in panorama is the easiest I've ever tried, but I still don't use it much.

Maps on iOS6 are kind of a wash compared to iOS5, as has been stated before, the data isn't as good in many areas, although in my area, (East Texas, SW Arkansas) Google's data was never very good in the first place. While I don't miss street view I know those that do. Turn by turn is very nice though, (assuming the data for your area is good). I use it constantly and the routes are usually GTG, although driving for a living I never trust machine routing exclusively.

But as always, your milage will vary. I'm happy with the iPhone 5, you might or might not be.

 

[Quu]

iOS would be a lot more useful if it was open like Android. Allowing applications to actually modify the operating system similar to how Apps can on OS X.

The sandboxing that Apple is doing, specifically denying apps from modifying the OS at all or running for more than 10 minutes after being switched from is severely limiting the platform. Android is so open and it has enabled a lot of innovation. Apple cannot provide every feature that literally thousands of developers are producing for Android and that is just a fact.

I own an iPhone 5, I love its hardware, I do like iOS but it isn't perfect. It looks great it works smoothly but I wish it was more open so we could benefit from 3rd party innovation like Android has.

 

[chakraj]

Yes, like huge, unsightly screens that are poorly calibrated and look terrible

Well if thats the only feature you can think of then your in the right ecosystem.

 

[XboxMySocks]

Well if thats the only feature you can think of then your in the right ecosystem.

Are you implying that iPhone screens are huge and unsightly? LMFAO!

 

[chakraj]

Are you implying that iPhone screens are huge and unsightly? LMFAO!

No Im just saying that when I mentioned features you use the screen as the only one and thats not the case.

(what I meant was since all you could think of was the screen, your in the right ecosystem, as IOS is very limited just like the thinking you had used)


Apple spent more money on patenting than in R&D lst year, I think thats all I was trying to say.

I like both, usually have both.

 

[robotphood]

I think a 4.3" screen would have been perfect but the current hardware is close to what I consider perfect. I think the hardware has kept up with or surpassed its competitors for the most part. But iOS is starting to lag behind because it simply hasn't changed too much in functionality the past few years. I recently found a jailbroken iPod touch with iOS 3.1.3 that I lost in a move a year ago. I could still do more with it then what I'm limited to now on my iphone 5. One day apple will win the cat and mouse game and I'll have to sadly move on

 

[thecurryman]

I think a 4.3" screen would have been perfect but the current hardware is close to what I consider perfect. I think the hardware has kept up with or surpassed its competitors for the most part. But iOS is starting to lag behind because it simply hasn't changed too much in functionality the past few years. I recently found a jailbroken iPod touch with iOS 3.1.3 that I lost in a move a year ago. I could still do more with it then what I'm limited to now on my iphone 5. One day apple will win the cat and mouse game and I'll have to sadly move on

I agree. The current iPhone 5 slightly wider would be the best phone hardware wise out there...

 

[gadget123]

It's not catching up it's offering a totally different smart phone.

Just because Android has "other" features doesn't make them as useful as the IOS operating system.

And how many times has it got to be said..4"3, 4"7, 5" tablet/notes/Galaxy phones are too large to hold.

 

[phpmaven]

iOS would be a lot more useful if it was open like Android. Allowing applications to actually modify the operating system similar to how Apps can on OS X.

The sandboxing that Apple is doing, specifically denying apps from modifying the OS at all or running for more than 10 minutes after being switched from is severely limiting the platform. Android is so open and it has enabled a lot of innovation. Apple cannot provide every feature that literally thousands of developers are producing for Android and that is just a fact.

I own an iPhone 5, I love its hardware, I do like iOS but it isn't perfect. It looks great it works smoothly but I wish it was more open so we could benefit from 3rd party innovation like Android has.

All of that openness comes at a price. Android phones are really easy to screw up. If you are tech savvy and careful you can tweak things and still keep a stable system, but the average person who starts installing apps willy-nilly will quickly find that their phone freezes/reboots/slows down etc...

On the other hand, it's almost impossible to screw an iPhone up. That's why it's a better choice in my opinion for the average consumer. Apple's "walled garden" approach, while it may be annoying to those who like to tinker and have control over everything, is much safer for most people who wouldn't know a megabyte if it bit them on the tuchas.

I've been in the tech field since the Commodore 64 was out and I even managed to mess up my Galaxy S2 pretty easily.

All of the this belly aching about how closed Apple is doesn't mean squat to the average smart phone owner. Because of the tech field I work in and the organizations I belong to, I know dozens of people with iPhones and they are almost all the kind of user that I'm talking about. It's like a LAN in an office. If you don't lock things down on the PCs in your organization, the end users will find really creative ways to screw things up. It's just the way it is with most people. Apple understands his and thats why they are so successful.

 

[Quu]

All of that openness comes at a price. Android phones are really easy to screw up. If you are tech savvy and careful you can tweak things and still keep a stable system, but the average person who starts installing apps willy-nilly will quickly find that their phone freezes/reboots/slows down etc...

On the other hand, it's almost impossible to screw an iPhone up. That's why it's a better choice in my opinion for the average consumer. Apple's "walled garden" approach, while it may be annoying to those who like to tinker and have control over everything, is much safer for most people who wouldn't know a megabyte if it bit them on the tuchas.

I've been in the tech field since the Commodore 64 was out and I even managed to mess up my Galaxy S2 pretty easily.

All of the this belly aching about how closed Apple is doesn't mean squat to the average smart phone owner. Because of the tech field I work in and the organizations I belong to, I know dozens of people with iPhones and they are almost all the kind of user that I'm talking about. It's like a LAN in an office. If you don't lock things down on the PCs in your organization, the end users will find really creative ways to screw things up. It's just the way it is with most people. Apple understands his and thats why they are so successful.

I know this already. I just wish it was more open anyway, I want control and openness.

Apple could do it, OS X isn't breaking down is it? And yet I can run Photoshop in the background, install extensions in to my browser. It can be done properly if they'd just try. The way they have it now is all about lock ins they want to supply everything. The apps, the experience. The fact that when the iPhone launched and we couldn't even install applications is very telling of their attitude. But it extends beyond that, now the new iPhone lightning cable even has a microchip in it which makes it very difficult to copy the cable or make unauthorized accessories, this is really disappointing.

I like Apples stuff I love their designs both Hardware and Software but they need to loosen up and let other companies add value to their ecosystem in ways that Apple haven't imagined possible yet. At the moment everyone is having to play in Apples tightly controlled sand pit and that is going to hurt them in the long run as Android continues to dominate in market share and grow every year in features and ease of use.

 

[TheWheelMan]

Apple sold five million iPhone 5s the first weekend of release. I think that makes the entire "iPhone is falling behind Android" argument rather moot. Yes, the whole prestige thing does have some impact on its sales, but bottomline is that iPhone is still king because it's just a d@mn good device. You can dress up a Buick with all sorts of neat features, but it's still not a Rolls Royce. No matter what features you add to an Android (and some of them are really nice), it'll never be an iPhone.

 

[SomeDudeAsking]

Apple sold five million iPhone 5s the first weekend of release. I think that makes the entire "iPhone is falling behind Android" argument rather moot. Yes, the whole prestige thing does have some impact on its sales, but bottomline is that iPhone is still king because it's just a d@mn good device. You can dress up a Buick with all sorts of neat features, but it's still not a Rolls Royce. No matter what features you add to an Android (and some of them are really nice), it'll never be an iPhone.

By your analogy, Windows 7 sold more copies in one weekend than OSX did in an entire year. Therefore, by your logic, OSX is a piece of stinky doo doo.

 

[gentlefury]

I'm reading non-stop negative press on this board, in the news, media, everywhere. Not sure why.

There's a narative that says the iPhone 5 is not a big update. That its finally falling behind Android competition.

Yet this doesn't seem obvious to me, at least not now.

I left the iPhone/iOS back when I had an iPhone 3G. I went and bought an HTC Incredible. When I left, here are the advantages that Android had over iOS.

1. Flash. Was a big selling point to view lots of apps. Suing Apple for saying you got the whole internet. Could watch flash video which was everywhere.
2. Turn by turn navigation. Was huge benefit. No option on iOS, not even 3rd party apps at the time.
3. Notifications. iOS didn't have the ability to queue them up. It was only an alert.
4. Background tasks: Back then, iOS couldn't do any user programs in the background. No Pandora, no Skype, no VOIP, nothing.
5. Voice recognition: Anywhere you could type you could use google's voice recognition.
6. Web browser text resizing: This is the one feature I still like in Android. Text in the browser can be made arbitrarily bigger by zooming in. It reflows the column.
7. LTE: I bought an HTC Thunderbolt early last year. The first of many LTE phones.

So here we are three years later, and NOW I hear that Apple has dropped the ball and fallen behind. Now?

1. Flash: Adobe is no longer supporting nor shipping on new Android phones. The web is rapidly moving away from flash (thankfully).
2. Turn by turn navigation: I love it, works well for me. Siri integration is awesome. Better than anything I could find on the phones I owned or even the S3 which I recently bought and tried.
3. Notifications: iOS added it.
4. Background tasks: iOS added it in a better more difficult way. Does not hurt battery life. Background tasks on Android are the reason for dismal battery life. Causes you to have to run juice defender, app killers etc.
5. Voice recognition: Check, iOS added it. Siri I think is superior to anything I've seen in the Android world.
6. Web browser text resize: iOS text still too small. That may be why folks don't like the iPhone 5. They don't want to admit they can't see the small text. If apple won't make a bigger screen phone, they need to allow bigger text.
7. LTE: check, iPhone 5 adds it.

So from here, it looks like iOS is a much better choice now than it was 3 years ago. Yet all of a sudden folks are claiming that NOW iOS has fallen behind Android.

What am I missing?

Not really sure who said iOS was slipping in any way....5 million pre-order iPhone 5 sales would indicate otherwise.

Sure compare iOS vs Android and I'm sure Android comes out on top...because iPhone is ONLY made by apple...but every other manufacturer sells an android phone. It would be more of a comparison to head say, Apple iPhone and Samsung Galaxy. Then at least it would be one manufacturer against another.

Comparing iPhone against every other phone is like comparing a Honda Accord vs every other vehicle with 4 wheels.

 

[Mr Hill]

All of that openness comes at a price. Android phones are really easy to screw up. If you are tech savvy and careful you can tweak things and still keep a stable system, but the average person who starts installing apps willy-nilly will quickly find that their phone freezes/reboots/slows down etc...

On the other hand, it's almost impossible to screw an iPhone up. That's why it's a better choice in my opinion for the average consumer. Apple's "walled garden" approach, while it may be annoying to those who like to tinker and have control over everything, is much safer for most people who wouldn't know a megabyte if it bit them on the tuchas.

I've been in the tech field since the Commodore 64 was out and I even managed to mess up my Galaxy S2 pretty easily.

All of the this belly aching about how closed Apple is doesn't mean squat to the average smart phone owner. Because of the tech field I work in and the organizations I belong to, I know dozens of people with iPhones and they are almost all the kind of user that I'm talking about. It's like a LAN in an office. If you don't lock things down on the PCs in your organization, the end users will find really creative ways to screw things up. It's just the way it is with most people. Apple understands his and thats why they are so successful.

Totally agree with you on this. Apple is so successful because they understand the average consumer. I can't even count how many people bring their Androids into our store daily complaining that their device has slowed down, is acting weird, or they think it has a virus.

Also most of the customizing that Android users love so much usually bogs down system performance or decreases battery life because so much is going on. iOS has always been smooth and stable while Android is just getting there with 4.1 Jelly Bean (at least until the user starts customizing too much).

One last thing I'll say about the Androids I've used is the quality of the apps. Many of the apps that I use on iOS I also installed on my Androids and usually they were missing some features, were buggier, or crashed often. "Force Close" was a common sight.

 

[gentlefury]

Any claims to back that up? I've been using it since beta 1 and not once have I gotten lost because of it. Granted I do live in LA, but LA is gigantic and difficult to map. Not once have I gotten lost.

I'm also in LA and its been pretty flawless. As a matter of fact, I used it the other day because my cars GPS had no clue where I had to go. iOS maps got me there just fine!

 

[gadget123]

Apple sold five million iPhone 5s the first weekend of release. I think that makes the entire "iPhone is falling behind Android" argument rather moot. Yes, the whole prestige thing does have some impact on its sales, but bottomline is that iPhone is still king because it's just a d@mn good device. You can dress up a Buick with all sorts of neat features, but it's still not a Rolls Royce. No matter what features you add to an Android (and some of them are really nice), it'll never be an iPhone.

Because Android has some things people class as "superior" some people think IOS is falling behind.

However as has been said Google wouldn't allow turn by turn so Apple had to add there own.

From what I gather there's lots of free games that are useless and hopeless features people don't need.

Even if Apple doesn't add something right away. Maybe NFC? We know it will take off when Apple develop it as it will work better with IOS.

Things like Wiglets, flash, 5" screens I think Apple will steer clear off as it's all gimmicks which slow the handset down or phones which are too big to hold.

 

[Bahroo]

Do you not see that you have answered your own question?

You made a list of features that Android had three years ago, on what is a not so good device.

Now you say, the new 2012 iphone has those old features that Android has had for a long time. Acting like android and the manufacturers have stood still.

So Yes apples new iphone 5 does have the same features as a three year old android phone, but is built fancier.

Now a New android phone, HTC X+ or GS3.......or..... has many more features that the iphone does not have, so yes Android is far ahead of IOS.

SO the new iphone is catching up with OLD android phones, while falling farther behind the new ones.

Right... LTE was trash on the Thunderbolt when it came out, (2 hour batttery life on LTE ring a bell?) Flash was awful when it came out on Android... Android may have implemented features earlier then iOS but it was terrible, unoptimized implementations... at least when Apple comes out with features like Android they do it right the first time instead of it being finally bareable and good 2-3 years after it came out.

Lets not forget that the openness of Android allows for much more malware and rogue apps then iOS... I read a few months ago that malware was up 580% in one month on the Play Store? I cant imagine what the number is at now. Plus what good is all these "features" if your dual core Android smartphone (Evo 3D, etc) is still stuck on Gingerbread LOL. Only 2 % of Android users are on Jelly Bean... that is pathetic ..nuff said

Plus more features doesnt mean better... espcially if there implented wrongly.

What good is all these "features" if my browser on my super powerful Galaxy S3 with 2 gigs of RAM crashes at least 2-3 times a day while on my ipad 1 with 256 mb of ram it never crashes, or how scrolling and pinch to zoom and just general smoothness and fluidity of the OS on my old iPhone 4 is still smoother and more fluent then my super powerful GS3...or how my Messages app on my GS3 crashes here and there...(Messages has stopped working.. WAIT WHAT LOL?) not to mention copy and paste/trying to edit sentences on Android is still god awful, the blue thing to trace what letter your at always jumps around and the page starts to become spastic. Terribly implemented...

Like I said' Android adds features but forgets basic core functionality and usability... like i said there should be no reason why my GS3 browser crashes everday even though it has much superior hardware then the ipad 1 and iphone 4 and it doesnt on these 2 products or why general OS fluidity and smoothness is better on iOS with inferior hardware... but go ahead...keep saying Android is ahead you can deny this its OK.