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hyteckit

Guest
Jul 29, 2007
889
1
Is this constituted as a negative now? Unless you pick up a different phone each time you use it, why is this even a problem?

onthecouchagain thinks the inconsistency is a negative and how a dedicated back button is so much more consistent on Android. I'm just pointing out a similar inconsistency on Android with the dedicated back button.

Is it a negative to have the left button on a mouse for contextual menu on one PC and another PC, it's the right button on a mouse for contextual menu? I think so even if you are just using one PC.

I happen to have more than one Android device and the inconsistency is obvious. I don't think it's a big deal. However, it is an inconsistency if you want to bring up inconsistencies.

At least it's more obvious what the back button does on iOS apps. The "dedicated" back button on Android apps does whatever it wants depending on the app.
 
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ChazUK

macrumors 603
Feb 3, 2008
5,393
25
Essex (UK)
onthecouchagain thinks the inconsistency is a negative.

I'm just pointing out a similar inconsistency on Android.

Is it a negative

How is it similar?

Hardware buttons on completely different handsets vs software design.

How do you cope driving different cars? Using different TV remotes?

Must be tough for you.

I'm currently using three phones, iPhone 4, Nexus 4 and a Galaxy S III and you know what? I have it in me to adjust to each one when using them.

Not Professor Stephen Hawking like intelligence but something that should impress here no less. :cool:
 

ChazUK

macrumors 603
Feb 3, 2008
5,393
25
Essex (UK)
At least it's more obvious what the back button does on iOS apps. The "dedicated" back button on Android apps does whatever it wants depending on the app.

For the most part, the back button works for me as I'm used to.
Couple of examples:

Press news reader - I have it set to open all full articles in Chrome.
If I open an article from Press it goes like this:

Start Press -> Tap article preview -> Tap article header to open in Chrome -> Read full article -> Hit back, go back to press.

If I am browsing in purely in Chrome, the back button functions as a browser "back" button until it gets to the first page you opened. A further back press will close the browser.

The difference between the two usage scenarios is that I am switching between two apps and exclusively using an app in the other. Seems to work how I expect if I'm honest.

Care to share any personal inconsistencies you experience on a day to day basis? I can't say the back button has had me confused in a long while.
 

hyteckit

Guest
Jul 29, 2007
889
1
How is it similar?

Hardware buttons on completely different handsets vs software design.

How is software back button similar to a dedicated hardware/software back button?

Really? Is the "dedicated" back button on Android hardware or software?

What's you next question? How is a hardware volume button similar to a software volume button?


How do you cope driving different cars? Using different TV remotes?

Must be tough for you.

I'm currently using three phones, iPhone 4, Nexus 4 and a Galaxy S III and you know what? I have it in me to adjust to each one when using them.

Not Professor Stephen Hawking like intelligence but something that should impress here no less. :cool:

Actually, I have no problems with the back button on iOS or Android. It's mostly Android dedicated people who bitch about how inconsistent the back button is on iOS, but failed to acknowledge similar inconsistencies with the dedicated back button on Android.

It's onthecouchagain who is bitching about the back button on iOS.

Why don't you ask him those questions?


So base on your arguments, anyone who complaints about the back button on iOS, must have a hard time coping with driving different cars and using different TV remotes?
 
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ChazUK

macrumors 603
Feb 3, 2008
5,393
25
Essex (UK)
How is software back button similar to a dedicated hardware/software back button?

Really?
I'd assumed by your reasoning of this:

Where's the location of the dedicated back button?
Depends on the device.
Referred to handsets with hardware buttons as opposed to the soft buttons on all Android 4.x handsets that use them.

All of the Nexus, Motorola, Sony & Acer phones I've seen with soft buttons have the same layout (back, home, multitask). Only when capacitive buttons are thrown onto the handsets have I seen different layouts. (Galaxy S i9000, Nexus S, HTC One, Galaxy S III e.t.c).

Are there any Android 4.+ phones out there where the manufacturer has changed the soft button layouts when no physical/capacitive buttons are used?

What's you next question? How is a hardware volume button similar to a software volume button?
Nope.

Actually, I have no problems with the back button on iOS or Android.

It's onthecouchagain who is bitching about the back button on iOS.

Why don't you ask him those question?

Bitching? You're reading into this too emotionally I think (chill, it's just a bit of software). :D He may adjust to the iPhone thinking it's completely logical eventually.

"Bitching" aside, I do prefer the familiarity of having a back button in the same place on a per handset basis and I can't say I've had it do anything unexpected in a long time.

My main usage of the back button is flitting between RSS readers and the full browser on my deivces (I hate the webview methods on both Android and iOS and open all articles/links in Safari or Chrome respectively) just in case I want to read further on from any links.
 

hyteckit

Guest
Jul 29, 2007
889
1
Referred to handsets with hardware buttons as opposed to the soft buttons on all Android 4.x handsets that use them.

All of the Nexus, Motorola, Sony & Acer phones I've seen with soft buttons have the same layout (back, home, multitask). Only when capacitive buttons are thrown onto the handsets have I seen different layouts. (Galaxy S i9000, Nexus S, HTC One, Galaxy S III e.t.c).

Are there any Android 4.+ phones out there where the manufacturer has changed the soft button layouts when no physical/capacitive buttons are used?

So you are limiting the consistency to just Android 4.+ phones with non physical buttons? But most people don't own Android 4.+ phones with just capacitive touch buttons.

So what's the most popular Andoid 4.+ phone and tell me where the "dedicated" back button is. I'm betting it's not on the bottom left.

I'm pointing out the inconsistency based on my own experience, not your limited scenario. The inconsistency is there whether you want to acknowledge it or not.

None of my Android phones have the dedicated on the bottom left. One of my Samsung Android phone has it on the bottom right and the other Samsung Android phone has in the middle.
 

mib1800

Suspended
Sep 16, 2012
2,859
1,250
I do like the dedicated back/undo button at times. But it's not very consistent on Android.

Where's the location of the dedicated back button?


Depends on the device.

The dedicated back button might be on the bottom right, bottom left, or the middle. That's like having a samsung mouse where the contextual menu is the left button, but on a google mouse, the contextual menu is the right button.

I prefer it on the bottom left, but on my Note 2, it's on the bottom right.


What does back button do? Depends on the app.


Sometimes it quits the app.
Sometimes it goes back to the previous page.
Sometimes it undos something you just did.
Sometimes it does nothing.


How is it consistent?

You know the meaning of "back", no?

It goes back to the previous screen you were working on in stacked hierarchy not back to previous app. if you are at the first screen of the app another back will go to the last screen of the last app.

this is totally consistent and logical. you are just confused and can't see logically. :p
 

hyteckit

Guest
Jul 29, 2007
889
1
Bitching? You're reading into this too emotionally I think (chill, it's just a bit of software). :D He may adjust to the iPhone thinking it's completely logical eventually.

onthecouchagain owns an iPad 3 and previously owns an iPhone 4S.

You believe he is still adjusting? No, I'm pretty sure it's bitching at this point.

If you believe he is still adjusting, maybe you should ask him if he has problems coping with driving different cars and using different remotes as you suggested earlier?
 
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hyteckit

Guest
Jul 29, 2007
889
1
You know the meaning of "back", no?

Yes, I know the meaning of "back". Do you?

It goes back to the previous screen you were working on in stacked hierarchy not back to previous app. if you are at the first screen of the app another back will go to the last screen of the last app.

You would assume that's how it works, but on Android it doesn't always work that way. Thus the inconsistency. Duh!


Sometimes it quits the app.
Sometimes it goes back to the previous page.
Sometimes it undos something you just did.
Sometimes it does nothing.

this is totally consistent and logical. you are just confused and can't see logically. :p

What does the back button do in the staples app?
What does holding the back button do on my Note 2?

On my office app, the back button quits the app. It doesn't undo what I just wrote.
On my drawing app, the back button doesn't quit the app. It just undos what I just drew.
 

onthecouchagain

macrumors 604
Original poster
Mar 29, 2011
7,382
2
onthecouchagain thinks the inconsistency is a negative and how a dedicated back button is so much more consistent on Android. I'm just pointing out a similar inconsistency on Android with the dedicated back button.

Partially incorrect. The inconsistency deals with the location, not what it does or doesn't do. Reread my OP.

----------

It's mostly Android dedicated people who bitch about how inconsistent the back button is on iOS

There is no back button in iOS.

Boy... you really need to reread.

----------

onthecouchagain owns an iPad 3 and previously owns an iPhone 4S.

You believe he is still adjusting? No, I'm pretty sure it's bitching at this point.

If that's how you feel, that's how you feel, but you really need to reread my posts in this thread. Or you can continue misconstruing all my points in the defense of your precious iOS. Doesn't really affect me.

----------

Let me get this straight.

onthecouchagain last experience with an iPhone was the iPhone 4S which wasn't long ago and still uses iOS 6 on his iPad.
onthecouchagain prefers Android OS over iOS.
onthecouchagain doesn't like the 4" screen and prefers something bigger like 4.5" to 4.8" screen.


Yet he can't find a good Android phone replacement for the Nexus 4 out of the hundreds versions of the Android phone available today and went with the iPhone 5?

What does it say about the current crop of Android phones?


It says you have no reading comprehension. I address every single one of those points. Every.Single.One.

Good luck.
 

mattopotamus

macrumors G5
Jun 12, 2012
14,738
6,109
random, but as a lefty my favorite thing about the nexus 4 is having the back button in the bottom left vs bottom right. I have small hands and on the note 2 I could not reach the back button with 1 hand being on the right side.
 

Oohara

macrumors 68040
Jun 28, 2012
3,050
2,423
random, but as a lefty my favorite thing about the nexus 4 is having the back button in the bottom left vs bottom right. I have small hands and on the note 2 I could not reach the back button with 1 hand being on the right side.

I've a different reason for it, but man do I wish Samsung would put their back button on the left too. Having it on the right is just illogical, unless you're in a country where you read from right to left.
 

mib1800

Suspended
Sep 16, 2012
2,859
1,250
Yes, I know the meaning of "back". Do you?



You would assume that's how it works, but on Android it doesn't always work that way. Thus the inconsistency. Duh!


Sometimes it quits the app.
Sometimes it goes back to the previous page.
Sometimes it undos something you just did.
Sometimes it does nothing.

you should say most of the time it works as designed. day in day out I used the back button and it works as designed.

What does the back button do in the staples app?
What does holding the back button do on my Note 2?

On my office app, the back button quits the app. It doesn't undo what I just wrote.
On my drawing app, the back button doesn't quit the app. It just undos what I just drew.

which drawing app you are referring to? Unless the app specifically over write the back button the default behavior is to go back to previous active activity/window in the stack.

what does long press has to do with inconsistency? the back is activated by tap not long press -totally different operation. if you say it sometimes open the multi windows with single tap then that's inconsistency but it does not.
 

hyteckit

Guest
Jul 29, 2007
889
1
It says you have no reading comprehension. I address every single one of those points. Every.Single.One.

Good luck.

Really? I'm just pointing out what you've said.

That the current crop of Android phones suck so you had no choice but to go back to the iPhone with its tiny 4" screen and running iOS which you mention in past was boring and lack many features that were important.

So you disagreeing with yourself that the current crop of Android phone suck?


Here's what you've said:


My recent disappointments with Android's offerings this year (so far) coupled with my recent return of multiple Nexus 4 devices has left me looking at iOS again to either be a) my smartphone to tie me over until I change my mind about the S4, or b) my return to iOS for the foreseeable future.

Here's what I've said:

Yet he can't find a good Android phone replacement for the Nexus 4 out of the hundreds versions of the Android phone available today and went with the iPhone 5?

What does it say about the current crop of Android phones?
 

jrswizzle

macrumors 603
Aug 23, 2012
6,107
129
McKinney, TX
The white iPhone 5 looks the best. Sounds like good battery life too.

Just a shame on that tiny screen, ****** keyboard, and lack of customization. At least Jailbreak helps a ton, without jailbreak, that phone would be useless.

*sigh*

I don't know how I manage honestly....I mean, I can't do anything but make calls, send emails, update/create documents, spreadsheets, power points, take photos, edit photos, send text messages, check the internet, listen to music and all the things the 800,000 apps in the app store do.....its rough let me tell you...

Can we at least admit that a good portion of the annoyances people like you have with iOS are PREFERENCE? It's not that the iPhone can't do the task (aside from the little customization, I haven't found a task the iPhone can't do relatively easily), its just that you don't like HOW it does it.....

That hardly makes the phone "useless".....simply not the right one for you. Which is fine - no need to indirectly insult those of us who use and love their iPhones stock.

Personally, I have no issue with my iPhone 5 as is. Most of the OP's annoyances mean nothing to me because I'm used to iOS and all its nuances. Similarly I find some things frustrating on my N4 because it's not second-nature to me....doesn't mean the phone is useless - I quite like having both.

As I said earlier I think Couch won't keep the iPhone simply because he seems to fall in the Android philosophy camp - wants the options, customizations and whatnot. I get why he's doing this iPhone trial and I commend him for truly testing things out and being honest.....

But, to a degree, the smartphone doesn't make the user - the user makes the smartphone.....

Essentially meaning you'll either align with one line of thinking (iOS) or the other (Android) and no amount of changing the phone/OS is going to change the user's preferences/usage patterns.
 

onthecouchagain

macrumors 604
Original poster
Mar 29, 2011
7,382
2
*sigh*

I don't know how I manage honestly....I mean, I can't do anything but make calls, send emails, update/create documents, spreadsheets, power points, take photos, edit photos, send text messages, check the internet, listen to music and all the things the 800,000 apps in the app store do.....its rough let me tell you...

Can we at least admit that a good portion of the annoyances people like you have with iOS are PREFERENCE? It's not that the iPhone can't do the task (aside from the little customization, I haven't found a task the iPhone can't do relatively easily), its just that you don't like HOW it does it.....

That hardly makes the phone "useless".....simply not the right one for you. Which is fine - no need to indirectly insult those of us who use and love their iPhones stock.

Personally, I have no issue with my iPhone 5 as is. Most of the OP's annoyances mean nothing to me because I'm used to iOS and all its nuances. Similarly I find some things frustrating on my N4 because it's not second-nature to me....doesn't mean the phone is useless - I quite like having both.

As I said earlier I think Couch won't keep the iPhone simply because he seems to fall in the Android philosophy camp - wants the options, customizations and whatnot. I get why he's doing this iPhone trial and I commend him for truly testing things out and being honest.....

But, to a degree, the smartphone doesn't make the user - the user makes the smartphone.....

Essentially meaning you'll either align with one line of thinking (iOS) or the other (Android) and no amount of changing the phone/OS is going to change the user's preferences/usage patterns.

I don't think he means literally iOS is useless.

----------

Really? I'm just pointing out what you've said.

That the current crop of Android phones suck so you had no choice but to go back to the iPhone with its tiny 4" screen and running iOS which you mention in past was boring and lack many features that were important.

So you disagreeing with yourself that the current crop of Android phone suck?


Here's what you've said:


My recent disappointments with Android's offerings this year (so far) coupled with my recent return of multiple Nexus 4 devices has left me looking at iOS again to either be a) my smartphone to tie me over until I change my mind about the S4, or b) my return to iOS for the foreseeable future.

Here's what I've said:

Yet he can't find a good Android phone replacement for the Nexus 4 out of the hundreds versions of the Android phone available today and went with the iPhone 5?

What does it say about the current crop of Android phones?

My mistake. I thought my thoughts on the S4 and HTC One were more elaborate in the OP. That post is probably somewhere in this thread.

In short: I'm on holding pattern regarding the S4 and One. My initial impressions of both are, indeed, of disappointment. I have some serious reservations about the One, especially.

A lot of getting the iPhone also has to do with Apple's sweet 30 day no questions asked return policy. Even if there was another Android phone to hold me over until the big releases that I wanted, I wouldn't have the liberty to return them so easily and with such a big window, too. And even if I miss the 30 day Apple window, the resale value of the iPh5 is higher should I change my mind.
 

Tig Bitties

macrumors 603
Sep 6, 2012
5,517
5,692
*sigh*

I don't know how I manage honestly....I mean, I can't do anything but make calls, send emails, update/create documents, spreadsheets, power points, take photos, edit photos, send text messages, check the internet, listen to music and all the things the 800,000 apps in the app store do.....its rough let me tell you...

Can we at least admit that a good portion of the annoyances people like you have with iOS are PREFERENCE? It's not that the iPhone can't do the task (aside from the little customization, I haven't found a task the iPhone can't do relatively easily), its just that you don't like HOW it does it.....

That hardly makes the phone "useless".....simply not the right one for you. Which is fine - no need to indirectly insult those of us who use and love their iPhones stock.

Personally, I have no issue with my iPhone 5 as is. Most of the OP's annoyances mean nothing to me because I'm used to iOS and all its nuances. Similarly I find some things frustrating on my N4 because it's not second-nature to me....doesn't mean the phone is useless - I quite like having both.

As I said earlier I think Couch won't keep the iPhone simply because he seems to fall in the Android philosophy camp - wants the options, customizations and whatnot. I get why he's doing this iPhone trial and I commend him for truly testing things out and being honest.....

But, to a degree, the smartphone doesn't make the user - the user makes the smartphone.....

Essentially meaning you'll either align with one line of thinking (iOS) or the other (Android) and no amount of changing the phone/OS is going to change the user's preferences/usage patterns.

The iPhone is a great phone for my mother-in-law, or older sister, but to me is a basic simple phone, good for phone calls, texts, e-mails, photos.

Jailbreaking allows iOS to have more features added, way more customization, etc...In this very forum there is a jailbreak section, and they have laundry lists of what jb apps add over stock, and useful stuff too.

Even with my Nexus 4, I was not happy just stock, it's too plain, I needed to root and install custom ROM's and kernels. I want full power to customize my phone.
 

onthecouchagain

macrumors 604
Original poster
Mar 29, 2011
7,382
2
As I said earlier I think Couch won't keep the iPhone simply because he seems to fall in the Android philosophy camp - wants the options, customizations and whatnot. I get why he's doing this iPhone trial and I commend him for truly testing things out and being honest.....


I appreciate this. I really am trying to make this phone work.

In fact, there's a lot of things I'm now really enjoying:

1) One handed use is better and more comfortable for very obvious reasons.

2) I love that my phone is now entirely gesture base (the only time I have to hit a physical button is to wake the device, which is normal). Zephyr and Activator are both absolutely incredible Jailbreak apps. I really hope I can find similar apps on Android if I decide to switch. Down with physical buttons, I say!

3) I love that I can sync my iBooks now between iPad and iPhone.

4) Really love the camera -- Coming from the Nexus 4 and the Galaxy Nexus before that, saying i love the iPh5 camera is an understatement.

5) And if there's one thing I like about the iOS keyboard (and I mean really only one thing because I dislike the keyboard otherwise), it's the editing tools. Something about the way the cursor always snaps into the right place, and the magnifying class, and the ability to triple or quadruple-tap to highlight full sentences and full paragraphs really help the editing process.

So, we will see what happens with the S4 and HTC One releases, but I am enjoying the few things iOS/iPhone bring to the table. ;)
 

Grolubao

macrumors 68000
Dec 23, 2008
1,579
583
London, UK
Totally agree with Zephyr and that phones in the future should indeed all gesture based, it's so much more comfortable.
 

mattopotamus

macrumors G5
Jun 12, 2012
14,738
6,109
I appreciate this. I really am trying to make this phone work.

In fact, there's a lot of things I'm now really enjoying:

1) One handed use is better and more comfortable for very obvious reasons.

2) I love that my phone is now entirely gesture base (the only time I have to hit a physical button is to wake the device, which is normal). Zephyr and Activator are both absolutely incredible Jailbreak apps. I really hope I can find similar apps on Android if I decide to switch. Down with physical buttons, I say!

3) I love that I can sync my iBooks now between iPad and iPhone.

4) Really love the camera -- Coming from the Nexus 4 and the Galaxy Nexus before that, saying i love the iPh5 camera is an understatement.

5) And if there's one thing I like about the iOS keyboard (and I mean really only one thing because I dislike the keyboard otherwise), it's the editing tools. Something about the way the cursor always snaps into the right place, and the magnifying class, and the ability to triple or quadruple-tap to highlight full sentences and full paragraphs really help the editing process.

So, we will see what happens with the S4 and HTC One releases, but I am enjoying the few things iOS/iPhone bring to the table. ;)

I really like the magnifying glass too. It always works the same in all of my apps. I feel like the cursor on android glitches out sometimes and does not work good when trying to correct something on forums.
 

jrswizzle

macrumors 603
Aug 23, 2012
6,107
129
McKinney, TX
The iPhone is a great phone for my mother-in-law, or older sister, but to me is a basic simple phone, good for phone calls, texts, e-mails, photos.

Jailbreaking allows iOS to have more features added, way more customization, etc...In this very forum there is a jailbreak section, and they have laundry lists of what jb apps add over stock, and useful stuff too.

Even with my Nexus 4, I was not happy just stock, it's too plain, I needed to root and install custom ROM's and kernels. I want full power to customize my phone.

And my point is, there are quite a few other people for whom the iPhone is a great phone as well - characterizing the iPhone as simply for "women" or "old-people" is both insensitive and ignorant.

I assure you, I can do much more than simply make calls, texts and emails on my iPhone.....

Anyways, neither here nor there. You prefer the customization, I couldn't care less about it. Ultimately I simply want my phone to work well and that's it. A picture of my wife as my wallpaper is really the only customization I need.

As for "tasks" and what the phone can actually DO, I haven't yet run across something I needed/wanted to do and couldn't....
 

jrswizzle

macrumors 603
Aug 23, 2012
6,107
129
McKinney, TX
I appreciate this. I really am trying to make this phone work.

In fact, there's a lot of things I'm now really enjoying:

1) One handed use is better and more comfortable for very obvious reasons.

2) I love that my phone is now entirely gesture base (the only time I have to hit a physical button is to wake the device, which is normal). Zephyr and Activator are both absolutely incredible Jailbreak apps. I really hope I can find similar apps on Android if I decide to switch. Down with physical buttons, I say!

3) I love that I can sync my iBooks now between iPad and iPhone.

4) Really love the camera -- Coming from the Nexus 4 and the Galaxy Nexus before that, saying i love the iPh5 camera is an understatement.

5) And if there's one thing I like about the iOS keyboard (and I mean really only one thing because I dislike the keyboard otherwise), it's the editing tools. Something about the way the cursor always snaps into the right place, and the magnifying class, and the ability to triple or quadruple-tap to highlight full sentences and full paragraphs really help the editing process.

So, we will see what happens with the S4 and HTC One releases, but I am enjoying the few things iOS/iPhone bring to the table. ;)

Ha, I know you are. These are all great things about the iPhone - here are some others I prefer after having used both for an extended period of time:

(1) iOS Mail App - despite the annoyances you've mentioned, I find iOS mail to be superior to Android's stock offering and the few others I've tried (got K9 running now). My biggest irritation is the fact I can't see a whole email at once...the default view is zoomed in and I have to scroll around to see anything in the message. I also have run across needing to download the rest of an email on numerous occasions, so unless I misunderstood you when you pointed this out on iOS, Android does it as well.

As for attachments, there is somewhat of an issue - however I think it's mostly misunderstood. Emailing multiple PDFs is a pain - but it can be done with the right app. That's the thing about iOS - the OS does the very basic and leaves the more complex to third party apps. It's a difference in philosophy from Android which packs as much function into the OS as possible while allowing the apps to supplement it. Also a big reason why getting used to one or the other is so challenging if you've used only one for quite a while.

(2) Messaging - damn I miss iMessage....the issue is exacerbated by the fact my radiant barrier kills phone reception in my house, but being able to freely text of wifi is awesome - and group messaging is much easier.

(3) iCloud services - I still prefer the way iCloud backs up my phone versus the other, much more involved, ways to do the same on Android. If my iPhone 5 goes down today, I'll have the new phone looking identical with minimal input and (depending on the internet speed) a small wait time. On Android, sure my apps and data are all backed up, but I'll have to re-organize my home screens and many times, each app has its own backup (for instance, if I forget to press "backup" in nova settings, Android won't automatically back up its data).

(4) Sharing - I know, I know - I'm going to get killed for this one. But for me, having a thousand different apps/ways to share a photo isn't really desirable. I want a few that work well. Photo stream is a far more efficient way to share photos for me (given my entire family and most of my friends are on iPhones) and iMessage is a great alternative - sending over wifi....other than that, posting to facebook or twitter are really the only other places I put photos/vids.

As for sharing between apps, I really haven't had a big problem with that. If I pull an attachment from an email, it gives me my installed options to open in. If I want to upload a picture to dropbox, going into dropbox itself isn't really all that much of an inconvenience to me - otherwise I can open other file types in the appropriate apps.
 

onthecouchagain

macrumors 604
Original poster
Mar 29, 2011
7,382
2
Ha, I know you are. These are all great things about the iPhone - here are some others I prefer after having used both for an extended period of time:

(1) iOS Mail App - despite the annoyances you've mentioned, I find iOS mail to be superior to Android's stock offering and the few others I've tried (got K9 running now). My biggest irritation is the fact I can't see a whole email at once...the default view is zoomed in and I have to scroll around to see anything in the message. I also have run across needing to download the rest of an email on numerous occasions, so unless I misunderstood you when you pointed this out on iOS, Android does it as well.

As for attachments, there is somewhat of an issue - however I think it's mostly misunderstood. Emailing multiple PDFs is a pain - but it can be done with the right app. That's the thing about iOS - the OS does the very basic and leaves the more complex to third party apps. It's a difference in philosophy from Android which packs as much function into the OS as possible while allowing the apps to supplement it. Also a big reason why getting used to one or the other is so challenging if you've used only one for quite a while.

(2) Messaging - damn I miss iMessage....the issue is exacerbated by the fact my radiant barrier kills phone reception in my house, but being able to freely text of wifi is awesome - and group messaging is much easier.

(3) iCloud services - I still prefer the way iCloud backs up my phone versus the other, much more involved, ways to do the same on Android. If my iPhone 5 goes down today, I'll have the new phone looking identical with minimal input and (depending on the internet speed) a small wait time. On Android, sure my apps and data are all backed up, but I'll have to re-organize my home screens and many times, each app has its own backup (for instance, if I forget to press "backup" in nova settings, Android won't automatically back up its data).

(4) Sharing - I know, I know - I'm going to get killed for this one. But for me, having a thousand different apps/ways to share a photo isn't really desirable. I want a few that work well. Photo stream is a far more efficient way to share photos for me (given my entire family and most of my friends are on iPhones) and iMessage is a great alternative - sending over wifi....other than that, posting to facebook or twitter are really the only other places I put photos/vids.

As for sharing between apps, I really haven't had a big problem with that. If I pull an attachment from an email, it gives me my installed options to open in. If I want to upload a picture to dropbox, going into dropbox itself isn't really all that much of an inconvenience to me - otherwise I can open other file types in the appropriate apps.

Definitely not as thrilled about these things as you are. -_-'
 

jrswizzle

macrumors 603
Aug 23, 2012
6,107
129
McKinney, TX
Definitely not as thrilled about these things as you are. -_-'

Lol - I know.....

Like I said - it really is all about what you're used to. I don't find things nearly as laborious as you do because I'm used to them. Typing on the iOS keyboard isn't a pain because I've been doing it for years.....and because I proofread everything anyway.

That being said, after having my N4 I'm really becoming much more open to Android. 4.2 is very smooth and I don't really have any issues. Apps are great (though until they offer a ton more tablet options, I'd never consider an Android tablet) and the hardware is different looking. I think that's what excites me about Android the most - simply the change in hardware design (provided I can still get the premium look and feel of an iPhone - which the N4 provides well and the HTC One looks like it might exceed!).

Really very happy with my Android experience. I've never been more convinced that there are some great options out there and hopefully the competition will drive each even further!

Still won't give up my iPhone though :). It's old faithful (the iPhone line - I think the iPhone 5 is quite advanced and still prefer it's display over any others I've seen).

What are your thoughts on iCloud and things like Passbook and Siri?
 

Vegastouch

macrumors 603
Jul 12, 2008
6,185
992
Las Vegas, NV
Let me get this straight.

onthecouchagain last experience with an iPhone was the iPhone 4S which wasn't long ago and still uses iOS 6 on his iPad.
onthecouchagain prefers Android OS over iOS.
onthecouchagain doesn't like the 4" screen and prefers something bigger like 4.5" to 4.8" screen.


Yet he can't find a good Android phone replacement for the Nexus 4 out of the hundreds versions of the Android phone available today and went with the iPhone 5?

What does it say about the current crop of Android phones?

LOL, well we know from his posts that he is picky. It wasnt a big deal to me that my springboard crashed every so often. I just hit reset and it was fine til it happened again. I dont sweat the small stuff.

IMO the GS3 is a better device than the N4 and not from experience but from reading about all the little problems it has had. My GS3 is very stable.
I cant speak for him but there are Android devices out there that are just fine. Some people just like to go back and forth with operating systems.

Me, Android is my prefered phone system. I get iOS from other sources and mostly prefer it on the Macbook. Not so much on the Mini. I still prefer the N7 over it. I cant go back to a smaller phone. Just cant do it..especially with that narrow screen.
 
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