Iphone is bulky and Samsung has great features but lacks Apple's refined software

[ag29]

I bought an iphone 6 plus when it came out and I grown to hate the size of it, it just felt uncomfortable in my pocket and I felt like the phone was always at risk of bending. Then the iphone 6s plus came out and the bending issue was fixed, but instead of the phone being lighter it actually was 20 oz heavier than the previous phone! Returned the iphone 6s plus because I was tired of having a bulky phone and got an iphone 6s.

The 6s is a good phone, just has a crappy battery life and I wish it had at least a 5 inch screen.

Anyway I got tired of it's bad battery life and small screen so I got the s7 edge when it came out and I love the dimensions of the phone, it's much slimmer size than the 6s plus and has a beautiful QHD screen, has fast charging so it actually charges faster than a small 6s with a tiny battery!, and the fact that it's water resistant, and you can actually add as much storage as you want.....pssh not like Apple is going to add any of those things anytime soon.

The only problem with the S7 Edge? It's not apple, it has Android. I just feel Apple's software is much more refined. Samsung lags and has too much bloatware. Not to mention the way samsung handles updates is absolutely horrible. It takes ages to actually get a new OS update.

Anyone else feel like this? Iphone is too bulky and Samsung is perfect size and has some amazing features but it just completely lacks Apple's refined ecosystem?

I like the note 7 but it's so similar to the S7 edge. I like to think of it as an S7 edge with an s pen. It has an iris scanner that I would never use, and the s pen is nice but it's a far from necessary feature and it's something that I would rarely use so thats why the note 7 is out of the picture. I don't want to spend money to get another phone thats almost exactly the same as what I have now.

Now if the Iphone 7 plus comes out and it's a lot slimmer than the current 6s plus, then I'll be very tempted to get it, even if it doesn't have any of the features that I like on the s7 edge...I'd still get the Iphone because I like apple's ecosystem a lot more.....and if it's not smaller then I'll stick with my s7 until next year.

If anyone else feels like this or has similar feelings, I'd love to hear your thoughts

 

[5105973]

Well I broke out of the Apple ecosystem because I found it limiting and I wanted the S pen functionality. The iris scanner was a nice surprise. It works very well for me and I use it more than any other method to unlock my Note7.

So far what I miss is being able to order Siri around without touching the iPhone by simply calling out "Hey Siri". "Ok Google" seems smarter but I can't see how it would be able to work without unlocking the phone to the home screen first.

My husband misses how his banking and financial apps unlock with his fingerprints and he's not happy about having to type in his passwords again to unlock these apps.

I think I have been happy so far with Samsung because I put some advanced careful thought into what I wanted a pocket computer to do for me and then selected the Note 7 because it promised to deliver that experience, rather than seeing it and going "Ooh, prettier than IPhone 7 rumors...must have it." If Apple or Nexus or anybody else in the future is able to give me a top of the line camera combined with a smart digital assistant and pen/pencil functionality I will give it serious consideration when I upgrade.

Right now Apple's ecosystem for the phablet sized device does not include any pencil input capability. For me, that was important. So my choice was with Samsung. It helps them Samsung also kept the headphone jack as I'm not satisfied with the state of wireless headphones yet. I will never tie myself to blind brand loyalty again and will try to stay as platform neutral for key functions as possible.

While for me Samsung currently rules as a connected pocket PC, for a more simple straightforward smart phone experience, Apple still rules and my iPhone SE is everything I could want in a nice pocketable smart phone experience.

I think it works better when I think of what I want a device in a given category to do and then try to find the product that best matches the capabilities I'm looking for. I think my previous habit of being drawn to the devices name/brand/image first and function second put me on autopilot as a consumer and turned me into a bit of a sheeple.

 

[admob71]

Don't be hung up on minimal OS updates, Samsung provides regular security updates, these are what matter. All the core Google apps are updated through the play store. Let's not forget ios updates have a sneaky habit of slowing down devices just to force users to upgrade, so a new OS upgrade isn't the holy grail by all means...

Enjoy the rest of your day..

 

[Casfin]

really like samsungs hardware, but software and support are 2 areas where they just can't compete with Apple.

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

It has an iris scanner that I would never use.

That's what most people say until they have it. I too thought I would probably disable the Iris scanner. Now I use it more than the fingerprint scanner. Find my self only using the fingerprint scanner when I have dark shades on.

 

[kevinof]

Refined software my a&%. Use my ipad daily and I find Apples apps and UI to be poor at best. No consistancy and just poorly thought out.

Apple does have updates licked but that is somewhat offset by google playstore updates which are very regular.

Currenly using IOS 10 and its not much better .

 

[mi7chy]

Define refine because a lot of people think iOS is too limited, no personalization, confusing menu hierarchy, Siri is unsable, Apple Maps is worse than competition, Safari has issues rendering sites and is slower scrolling, etc. Mobile Safari has always scored towards the bottom for HTML5 compliance hence the site rendering issues:

https://html5test.com/results/mobile.html

Ask yourself if iOS updates have ever made your iPhone look or behave noticeably different from iOS 7 to 8 to 9? They haven't. If anything every update just slows down your device and an excuse for Apple to close the ability to jailbreak. Not all devices get new features either like missing ad blocking, etc. so it's just a placebo number change.

Any bloat on Samsung can be disabled with Package Disabler Pro app while iOS just recently gained the ability to disable some Apple app bloat.

 

[spinedoc77]

I bought an iphone 6 plus when it came out and I grown to hate the size of it, it just felt uncomfortable in my pocket and I felt like the phone was always at risk of bending. Then the iphone 6s plus came out and the bending issue was fixed, but instead of the phone being lighter it actually was 20 oz heavier than the previous phone! Returned the iphone 6s plus because I was tired of having a bulky phone and got an iphone 6s.

The 6s is a good phone, just has a crappy battery life and I wish it had at least a 5 inch screen.

Anyway I got tired of it's bad battery life and small screen so I got the s7 edge when it came out and I love the dimensions of the phone, it's much slimmer size than the 6s plus and has a beautiful QHD screen, has fast charging so it actually charges faster than a small 6s with a tiny battery!, and the fact that it's water resistant, and you can actually add as much storage as you want.....pssh not like Apple is going to add any of those things anytime soon.

The only problem with the S7 Edge? It's not apple, it has Android. I just feel Apple's software is much more refined. Samsung lags and has too much bloatware. Not to mention the way samsung handles updates is absolutely horrible. It takes ages to actually get a new OS update.

Anyone else feel like this? Iphone is too bulky and Samsung is perfect size and has some amazing features but it just completely lacks Apple's refined ecosystem?

I like the note 7 but it's so similar to the S7 edge. I like to think of it as an S7 edge with an s pen. It has an iris scanner that I would never use, and the s pen is nice but it's a far from necessary feature and it's something that I would rarely use so thats why the note 7 is out of the picture. I don't want to spend money to get another phone thats almost exactly the same as what I have now.

Now if the Iphone 7 plus comes out and it's a lot slimmer than the current 6s plus, then I'll be very tempted to get it, even if it doesn't have any of the features that I like on the s7 edge...I'd still get the Iphone because I like apple's ecosystem a lot more.....and if it's not smaller then I'll stick with my s7 until next year.

If anyone else feels like this or has similar feelings, I'd love to hear your thoughts

I don't think Apple's software is any more refined than Androids, but that's an opinion in a subject that really can't be a fact either way. Most of this is really just what we prefer and need in our devices. Apple does have more simplicity at times, but IMO that simplicity makes things more complicated often. I agree about the lag, but as I've stated in other threads if you are going to live your life worried about an app opening a millisecond too slow then you've got other things to worry about. The fragmentation and ridiculously slow updates are certainly a concern and a huge plus for Apple, no disagreement there. Bloatware, just uninstall it, it's not rocket science.

But the bulkiness of the iPhone, now that's a great point IMO. Once you use something like the Note 7 you forget everything else pretty quickly. Just how compact it is for such a large and incredible screen. The functionality you get out of things like water resistance, the s-pen, etc.

But to answer probably the 1000th "should I get the note 7 or iPhone 7" thread, why don't you just wait 2 more weeks and find out what the iPhone has, hell you'd still be in the return period. If the bulkiness is a concern then all signs point towards the iPhone 7 having the exact same bulkiness as the iPhone 6. If smooth software is a concern then download the iOS 10 beta and see if it's what you want.

 

[AustinIllini]

Refined software my a&%. Use my ipad daily and I find Apples apps and UI to be poor at best. No consistancy and just poorly thought out.

Apple does have updates licked but that is somewhat offset by google playstore updates which are very regular.

Currenly using IOS 10 and its not much better .

Apple software may not be refined relative to the Google Android app suite, but it is miles ahead of Samsung apps. Add to that, the Google Apps on iOS are fantastic.

 

[Michael Goff]

Don't be hung up on minimal OS updates, Samsung provides regular security updates, these are what matter. All the core Google apps are updated through the play store. Let's not forget ios updates have a sneaky habit of slowing down devices just to force users to upgrade, so a new OS upgrade isn't the holy grail by all means...

Enjoy the rest of your day..

And depending on your carrier, you might or might not see those security updates.

 

[Technarchy]

Samsung software has been "good enough" for me in terms of usability since the S5.

Note 4 was rock solid.
S6 was phenomenal

It's different than Apple, but overall Samsung software offers some clear areas of flat out superiority, with far less rough edges than previous years.

That said, I am still waiting to see what Apple does next month before making a purchase decision. Note 7 is tempting as all hell.

 

[TechnicallyTee]

My exact thoughts, that's why I returned the Note 7 and went back to using my 6S+. I wanted to love everything about the note and I do every year when I switch from iOS to android and EVERY single time I always convert back to iOS. Samsung has the perfect hardware but their software is terrible. Yea its a more simplified version of Touchwiz but its still Touchwiz. There will always be some hint of lag when dealing with it.

People always saying that iOS lags and I laugh every time I hear that because I can honestly say I have never experience this lag that people say. Its nothing like Samsung's laggy software. I tend to stay neutral with phones because I am not tied into the Apple ecosystem since I only have a Macbook. Until Samsung can get rid of Touchwiz, they will always be second in my book.

 

[silentbob007]

The biggest thing I'm getting used to again (going from iPhone to Nexus to iPhone to Note7) is all of the notifications and figuring out what I really need to know and what I don't (and therefore need to turn off). I'm not quite as happy with Samsung's calendar/mail apps as I was with the stock Apple apps, so that has been a little bit of pain to find what I actually want to use daily.

 

[daveathall]

When people say that a phone has too much "bloatware," what does it do to the phone? As far as I am concerned, any unused apps that are not used on Android can be hidden away never to be seen again, I don't understand people finding it a problem. Please, someone explain the problem to me.

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

When people say that a phone has too much "bloatware," what does it do to the phone? As far as I am concerned, any unused apps that are not used on Android can be hidden away never to be seen again, I don't understand people finding it a problem. Please, someone explain the problem to me.

Some of those apps are running in the background even if you never used them. Disabling them stops that.

 

[JackieInCo]

Some of those apps are running in the background even if you never used them. Disabling them stops that.

And that is why I doubled the battery life on my Note 5 simply by running a custom ROM that has all kinds of bloat disabled, especially all the T-Mobile garbage.

 

[admob71]

Some of those apps are running in the background even if you never used them. Disabling them stops that.

So disable them, then hide the app icon, problem solved. But as the chap says, folk go on about them as if they destroy your device. Lol

Have a nice day.

 

[daveathall]

Some of those apps are running in the background even if you never used them. Disabling them stops that.

Yes, I am not technologically gifted and do disable as many as I am allowed by the phone/OS, and do take your point. But I still think that the word "bloatware" is over used and sometimes/lots of the times by people who have not experienced it but say it because they once heard someone use it in regards to a Samsung phone.

 

[5105973]

My exact thoughts, that's why I returned the Note 7 and went back to using my 6S+. I wanted to love everything about the note and I do every year when I switch from iOS to android and EVERY single time I always convert back to iOS. Samsung has the perfect hardware but their software is terrible. Yea its a more simplified version of Touchwiz but its still Touchwiz. There will always be some hint of lag when dealing with it.

People always saying that iOS lags and I laugh every time I hear that because I can honestly say I have never experience this lag that people say. Its nothing like Samsung's laggy software. I tend to stay neutral with phones because I am not tied into the Apple ecosystem since I only have a Macbook. Until Samsung can get rid of Touchwiz, they will always be second in my book.

There are users who apparently can get rid of Touchwiz. I don't know how but they are talking about how they use other launchers on the Note 7 and don't have to deal with Touchwiz. I have not yet learned about how to change launchers.

 

[bbrks]

Another pathetic Apple VS Samsung thread....people, don't you ever get tired

 

[Michael Goff]

So disable them, then hide the app icon, problem solved. But as the chap says, folk go on about them as if they destroy your device. Lol

Have a nice day.

A person shouldn't have to go into the device and disable things to get a decent experience. We shouldn't give companies a pass ruining our experience simply because we can take the time and hope we find everything running in the background to disable. The experience should be great out of the box.

 

[admob71]

Yes, I am not technologically gifted and do disable as many as I am allowed by the phone/OS, and do take your point. But I still think that the word "bloatware" is over used and sometimes/lots of the times by people who have not experienced it but say it because they once heard someone use it in regards to a Samsung phone.

Go to play store, download Google now launcher, open! . the end. It changes the visualness to what a stock Android device looks like. I don't bother as I think TW works a treat, best Android OEM overlay I've used. One caveat, the standard icons are a bit round, I change the theme to Android 6.0 material theme, the icons are very nice. Gives it a more contemporary feel.

Enjoy the rest of your day.

 

[Savor]

Just wait another year. Apple will reward their procrastination and your patience by copying the Samsung smartphones of the last two years with OLED, all-glass design, and edge to edge screen.

 

[Zaft]

Just wait another year. Apple will reward their procrastination and your patience by copying the Samsung smartphones of the last two years with OLED, all-glass design, and edge to edge screen.

iPhone 4 says hi.

 

[jamezr]

Just wait another year. Apple will reward their procrastination and your patience by copying the Samsung smartphones of the last two years with OLED, all-glass design, and edge to edge screen.

Yep...all glass and with a curved display!