Is really Android a competitive iOS alternative?

[iRock1]

Hi,

First of all I'm a longtime iPhone user (and, to be honest, a loyal Apple user in general, since I own an iMac, MacBook, iPad and iPod Video too).

My first iPhone was a 3G (first model available in my country), then I went to the 3GS, then 4, 5 and now 6. So you get the idea—longtime iPhone user.

I always laughed at Android for its obvious problems, i.e. clutter, crappy interface and bugs. However, people have been telling stories that this is not 2009 anymore and nowadays Android is pretty solid.

On the other hand, the jump from iOS 6 to iOS 7 under Tim Cook's direction was a big trauma to me. I don't know about these other Apple fanboys, but I'm just tired of having glitches, bugs and problems that have been there for years. To me, the current iOS clearly doesn't live up to Apple standards (which means being close to perfection).

So I need everybody here to be as honest as possible. Is really Android a solid alternative to iOS? And I don't mean in terms of features (damn, iOS covers almost anything I need), but in terms of stability, speed and clutter-free.

My other concerns go on the privacy side. I know Google is something to be afraid of when it comes to this sensitive topic—and yes, I'm one of those users who really care about privacy.

As a final and parallel consideration, my current iPhone 6 is 16 GB only, and I don't want to keep paying premium prices for crap, so perhaps selling it and moving to an Android phone with a expandable memory might be a good idea.

Then it would come the problem of seeing if there is an Android model that will cover my needs (basically a prety-damn-good camera, just like iPhone's, and better battery), but I want to see what's going on on the software side first.

 

[keysofanxiety]

So I need everybody here to be as honest as possible. Is really Android a solid alternative to iOS? And I don't mean in terms of features (damn, iOS covers almost anything I need), but in terms of stability, speed and clutter-free.

Yes, you get some very smooth performing Android handsets.

My other concerns go on the privacy side. I know Google is something to be afraid of when it comes to this sensitive topic—and yes, I'm one of those users who really care about privacy.

If you're that concerned, I wouldn't go for Android.

As a final and parallel consideration, my current iPhone 6 is 16 GB only, and I don't want to keep paying premium prices for crap, so perhaps selling it and moving to an Android phone with a expandable memory might be a good idea.

Buy used/second hand and save a lot of money. The 6S still performs magnificently and will for a long time to come. Nobody is forcing you to buy the latest from either Apple or through a contract.

 

[iRock1]

Yes, you get some very smooth performing Android handsets.

But, remember, is not only about responsiveness.

Which handsets are you thinking of?

If you're that concerned, I wouldn't go for Android.

What a shame. It's truly a problem being stuck between those two options and nothing else.

Buy used/second hand and save a lot of money. The 6S still performs magnificently and will for a long time to come. Nobody is forcing you to buy the latest from either Apple or through a contract.

Yup, but I still have plenty of reasons to look beyond iOS horizons. Storage wasn't the only one.

 

[mrex]

the question s already wrong. you should ask "is there any considerable competitive for android?" you already have alternatives, but is there any real competitor.

 

[DavidLynch]

But, remember, is not only about responsiveness.

Which handsets are you thinking of?



What a shame. It's truly a problem being stuck between those two options and nothing else.



Yup, but I still have plenty of reasons to look beyond iOS horizons. Storage wasn't the only one.

You can use Android while more or less ignoring Google's services, but you'd be giving up a lot of the advantages of the OS.

But yes, it is a much smoother experience than it was in the past. I had tried an Android phone (Galaxy Note 2) several years ago and quickly went back to iPhone. Having recently switched to the S7 (and soon the Note7), I've found it to be a completely different experience and I haven't thought about going back to iOS.

 

[kdarling]

My other concerns go on the privacy side. I know Google is something to be afraid of when it comes to this sensitive topic—and yes, I'm one of those users who really care about privacy.

What are you afraid of, exactly?

I mean, sure, if you're a drug dealer, letting Google do things like automatically scan and send you shipment arrival notifications, might end up being evidence against you if Google was served with a warrant and had to give up info (same as Apple does).

For the rest of us, it's a really handy perk, like having an intelligent personal assistant. Much of that can be turned off via your Google Dashboard too.

But that has little to do with Android, and more about using GMail, Google search, Maps, etc on any platform.

Heck, even self-proclaimed privacy-advocate Apple happily sells its customers to Google (as the default search engine) in return for billions of dollars in search revenue kickback.

 

[admob71]

Then it would come the problem of seeing if there is an Android model that will cover my needs (basically a prety-damn-good camera, just like iPhone's, and better battery), but I want to see what's going on on the software side first.

It's not even debatable that the top end Samsung devices have the best screen, the best camera and the best battery life.of all the flagship models. 4 gig of ram makes the handsets fly and they are buttery smooth these days along with beautiful hardware.

Android isn't an issue, it's your mindset that is. Along with many long term ios users there is a train of thought that all other devices are still like Nokia 3210s playing snake.

You would not be disappointed with a s7..

Enjoy the.rest of your day.

 

[robE89]

@admob71 is right, i bought a galaxy s6 last year ending my ~4 year apple streak. What admob71 and others don't really understand is that the transition from ios to android is not that as easy as just moving contacts and photos, if you were stuck in the apple ecosystem, it can be pretty hard to get used with android's way. I needed like 3 months to really get used it and be efficient. Personally i just can't go back to those big bezels which iphone has. The most important is to be open minded and not just "go back" at the first force close or problem.

 

[ryanwarsaw]

The transition can be a little tough at times.The good thing is once you know how things work everything does work well. It also means you have more freedom of choice in the future of you are well versed in either OS. The initial set up on a Droid can take more fussing about but once it is set up that's it.

Some things seem like they aren't as intuitive at first but I realized later that it was just another way of doing it and some of the things seemed very logical once you get your muscle memory to switch from the years of IOS use.

 

[calden]

Yes, the truth of the matter is Android is actually a decent OS. So much so that I now prefer it over iOS. Why, well I now have full multitasking, which is very important to me since I monitor multiple remote servers using terminals. Terminals that are running in the background the entire day. I have the same exact apps I had on my iPhone so I'm not missing anything there. The file management absolutely wipes the floor with what iOS provides, I mean it's such a breathe of fresh air actually having a real file system that I now absolutely hate dealing with files on my iPad Pro. Sharing function is also 10x better on Android, it also doesn't create a copy of the file your sharing like iOS does. Love the customizations, love being able to select my own default apps according to the file extension used. Love being able to mount all of my cloud storage, NAS and Samba drives as local folders in which every app can access directly. You really start to see just how much iOS is actually missing when you start using Android, it's quite a lot to.

If you do decide to get a Android phone, buy a Nexus or one that uses vanilla Android. The Nextbit Robin running CyangonMod 13 is actually a good alternative to the Nexus' looks fantastic, runs great and costs only $300. I'm constantly getting stopped by people with compliments and questions about it, which never once happened to me while using an iPhone, nor should it as everyone and their mother has an iPhone. You have to see the Robin up close to understand why this happens. I also just recently bought a new OnePlus 3, with VR kit and it's also a prettyfantastic phone for the money, 6GB RAM, Qualcomm 820, AMOLED display, though only 1080P, same Rez as iPhone 6s, it still looks great. This phone is also extremely fast, I mean it's the very definition of instant computing, it's so fast I'm using mine as a desktop computer, with Arch Linux running in a Chroot.

Privacy, Google, repeat, Google doesn't share your private data. Though you don't have to use Google, my Nextbit Robin is running CyangonMod 13.1, there isn't a single Google app or utility on it. To install apps I use the Amazon store, done.


Here are some screen shots of my Nexus 6 if your interested, which is still one of my favorite phones of all time. https://goo.gl/photos/DW2vj1nR7ofcAVGu5

 

[admob71]

Shouldn't the question more.be is ios a worthy OS to leave Android for? It's becoming a niche OS, before long they will only have single figure market share numbers..

 

[bbrks]

Android has become a pretty decent OS, no doubt about it, but for me iPhone and IOS are the only choice I have. I just couldn't find an android phone, that could persuade me to switch over to the dark side

 

[Roadstar]

Android has come a long way and while so far I've come back to iOS after switching attempts, at the next one I might actually make it permanent. Actually, if the Nexus 6P I had before didn't have a Bluetooth issue that became a dealbreaker for me, I could very well be running Android full time already. I've got myself a Nexus 5X to go with my iPhone 6s from work after that and on that one the Bluetooth issue isn't replicated, so all good in that front now.

While I like the iPhone 6s I have, it's unfortunately the criminally small 16GB model which is full pretty much all the time. As mentioned before, I got it from work and if it had been possible to invest my own money into upgrading it to a better storage, I would've done so in a heartbeat, but as it was a take-it-or-leave-it deal, I decided to give 16GB a try, only to find out it doesn't really work without me spending way too much time on constantly managing the storage. At first I gave iCloud Photo Library and its automatic storage management a try, but it failed so miserably it's not even funny anymore. Google Photos works much better, but there's still some annoying manual labor required. A more decent storage would make things much simpler and more tolerable.

So in addition to more sensible storage being available for more sensible price in many Android phones, these are the main things that are currently driving me towards Android:

• Voice control. Siri has been an unmitigated disaster. Granted, it did become available in Finnish in iOS 9.3, but regardless of whether I use it in English or Finnish, the success rate is horrible and I can't control the apps I'd need to with it. Even the new Siri API in iOS 10 won't help a bit as multimedia apps are out of bounds for it. On Android I can control both Google Play Music and Pocket Casts with my voice and it actually works more often than not, so I can actually keep my eyes on the road instead of fiddling with my phone after yet another Siri trainwreck.
• NFC. No Apple Pay in Finland yet, and I've given up any hope it'll ever make it here. Initially I was hoping for iPhone's NFC to be like TouchID, i.e. Apple exclusive for the first year, then opened up to developers. Sadly this hasn't happened and there are no signs for this changing, so the NFC hardware in my iPhone will continue to be totally useless most likely for the remainder of the phone's lifetime. On Android, on the other hand, I can use my bank's surprisingly decent app for mobile payments, check my travel card's status for the times I'm using public transportation, and implement some custom automation with programmable NFC tags I have. When available, Apple Pay sounds nice and I'd like to try out especially the Apple Watch part of it, but as it's most likely not going to make it here in any reasonable amount of time, I have to treat iOS as having no mobile payments.

If my 6s broke down today, I'd be quite OK with using just my Nexus 5X, but I'd most likely get some other phone that's a little bit snappier. It's the Apple Watch that would be the most annoying loss as Android Wear hasn't worked as nicely as the Apple Watch for me. However, some more recent Android Wear device than the LG G Watch could also help with that.

 

[I7guy]

Shouldn't the question more.be is ios a worthy OS to leave Android for? It's becoming a niche OS, before long they will only have single figure market share numbers..

I don't think so, but if the low cost alternative android makers gain any big foothold, there are the flagship android manfacturers that have more to lose than apple.

 

[Tig Bitties]

Just reading the title of this thread, I'm thinking no way can this be a serious question.

Then the first paragraph explaining what an Apple fan he is, LOL.

Close this thread, it's pointless.

And anyways Nexus FTW, I'd pull price for a new Nexus Marlin over a brand new free iPhone 7

This question can be easily reversed. People like me, having owned like 15 different Android phones over the years, and just 2 iPhones. When i went open minded when getting back into Apple with a iPhone 6 Plus, it was a jarring and difficult and painful experience, i gave it 29 days, but iOS just sucked hard for me IMO. I ran back to Android with the Nexus 6 at the time, and never looked back.

 

[admob71]

I don't think so, but if the low cost alternative android makers gain any big foothold, there are the flagship android manfacturers that have more to lose than apple.

They are gaining a foothold already, that's why ios numbers are falling. Samsung's market share seems to be rising tho.. the cream does normally rise to the top.

Have a nice day sir.

 

[I7guy]

They are gaining a foothold already, that's why ios numbers are falling. Samsung's market share seems to be rising tho.. the cream does normally rise to the top.

Have a nice day sir.

Only temporary, profits are more important than market share though. Google is the only one to celebrate when an android is sold.

Have a good day sir.

 

[SGT.GREER]

They are gaining a foothold already, that's why ios numbers are falling. Samsung's market share seems to be rising tho.. the cream does normally rise to the top.

Have a nice day sir.

You have a math problem.

 

[Fireblade]

Only temporary, profits are more important than market share though. Google is the only one to celebrate when an android is sold.

Have a good day sir.

Is anyone of you guys the main-shareholder of Apple or Google?
No?
So why in god's name taking care of the profits a company is gaining??

 

[SGT.GREER]

Is anyone of you guys the main-shareholder of Apple or Google?
No?
So why in god's name taking care of the profits a company is gaining??

Why not?

 

[I7guy]

Is anyone of you guys the main-shareholder of Apple or Google?
No?
So why in god's name taking care of the profits a company is gaining??

Im wondering about Market share as well. Comparing a $50 handset against flagships.

 

[jamezr]

Is anyone of you guys the main-shareholder of Apple or Google?
No?
So why in god's name taking care of the profits a company is gaining??

It helps to defer and change the subject from all the market share and tech mind share Apple is losing. You know people are desperate when the bring up profits in technology discussion. It's like they are saying "neaner neaner neaner....but we make more money than you" because they can't win the discussion anyother way to be honest.
Sales and marketshare are dropping for Apple in the last year.

 

[Channan]

It helps to defer and change the subject from all the market share and tech mind share Apple is losing. You know people are desperate when the bring up profits in technology discussion. It's like they are saying "neaner neaner neaner....but we make more money than you" because they can't win the discussion anyother way to be honest.
Sales and marketshare are dropping for Apple in the last year.

To be fair, I'd rather sell fewer products and make more money than the other way around. Apple isn't losing when they're making the most money.

 

[jamezr]

To be fair, I'd rather sell fewer products and make more money than the other way around. Apple isn't losing when they're making the most money.

I am sure at some point that is what Blackberry said as well. Now I'm not saying what happen to BB will happen to Apple at all to be clear. But when you rest on "well we make more profit" as your business model then the space you are competing in will evolve and pass you by. If you are continuing to lose sales and market share.............your profits will follow.
Apple's derives 68% of its profits from the iphone is declining demand and sales continue Apple will have to make up for that loss in another product line or drastically shake up the existing product line. They might be doing that in 2017 with the rumored changes in the iphone 8.

 

[Channan]

I am sure at some point that is what Blackberry said as well. Now I'm not saying what happen to BB will happen to Apple at all to be clear. But when you rest on "well we make more profit" as your business model then the space you are competing in will evolve and pass you by. If you are continuing to lose sales and market share.............your profits will follow.
Apple's derives 68% of its profits from the iphone is declining demand and sales continue Apple will have to make up for that loss in another product line or drastically shake up the existing product line. They might be doing that in 2017 with the rumored changes in the iphone 8.

RIM/BlackBerry didn't just lose market share; their sales declined as well. Apple has been steadily losing market share for a while now, but only recently did sales peak. Apple has nothing to worry about until sales start dramatically declining. Market share means very little at the moment.