What Would Make You Return to the iPhone?

[sentinelsx]

Hard choices are still choices.

Also, some things are more important to people. LTE, for example, seems very important to people than, say, immediate updates from Google. And so, the S3 makes a lot more sense. People have preference and they can choose accordingly.

The problem with Apple is, you can't have preferences. You can't choose what's more important to you.

Instead, you make the things that Apple chooses to be what's important to you.

To be honest though, all i wish is that my S3 had a LCD screen. I just cannot like an AMOLED, sorry.

Still, its performance and battery life WITHOUT modding or rooting blows every other android device i have used before. So i am 95% happy at least. Perhaps GS4 will have that looked after. It is the first phone that does not make me want to use an iPhone lol.

 

[onthecouchagain]

Thing is, you are pushing your desires onto others who do not want a wider phone. Since you are perfectly happy with your current device, i am not sure why is there a need to make others suffer with what choices they have made?

How am I making others suffer? It's your choice to engage in this thread or not.

Offering choices is not pushing desires. Hardly. If anything, there's only one thing here that's "pushing onto others" and that's Apple.

Again, I quote:

I think you missed the point here. He isn't saying his opinion is right. He is pointing out that Apple claims 4"+ is wrong. For everyone. In this way, Apple is doing exactly what you say shouldn't happen.

Also:

Folks can argue the merits of phone size til they are blue in the face, but at the end of the day that is all about personal preference. While an X" screen may be good for you, a Y" screen may be preferred for me. Somewhat of a stretch for you to think that your opinion is the one that holds true across the board.

"Given this precise philosophy, shouldn't Apple offer more screen sizes as options?"

 

[steviewhy]

First off I will always have some iOS devices for development purposes, so I'll never be without iOS. That being said the only way that it would be my daily driver again would be a minimum 5" screen and an open file system with native drag & drop file support from my computer.

If they could manage that I might go back. The odds are clearly stacked against either of those happening, let alone both.

 

[sentinelsx]

How am I making others suffer? It's your choice to engage in this thread or not.

Offering choices is not pushing desires. Hardly. If anything, there's only one thing here that's "pushing onto others" and that's Apple.

Again, I quote:



Also:



"Given this precise philosophy, shouldn't Apple offer more screen sizes as options?"

Well i misread it as offering only one screen size.

My apologies.

----------

First off I will always have some iOS devices for development purposes, so I'll never be without iOS. That being said the only way that it would be my daily driver again would be a minimum 5" screen and an open file system with native drag & drop file support from my computer.

If they could manage that I might go back. The odds are clearly stacked against either of those happening, let alone both.

You are better off waiting for a 5 inch windows phone 8 device then. At least they do support native d&d from windows.

 

[Vegastouch]

Well to be honest even with android the "choices" are pre-cut options with compromises, i mean where is my nexus phone with a NOTE 2 or iPhone 5 like battery life, a great camera like L920 or IP5 or One X, 32 GB of storage, and the stock JB email client (not gmail, it doesn't allow non gmail accounts so far on my phone at least) allowing HTML emails to fit inside it?

Until then every phone out there, whether an iPhone, android based, or any thing else is simply what fits me better than the others, and that is subjective.
I don't get the misguided choice thing here. I don't get the choice like i get in the PC world, choose my hardware as i want and install my clean windows/linux. THAT is real choice.

I meant choices such as keyboards, launchers, browsers, text applications, LED light, widgets, etc... and the ability to customize them all.
I get the great camera with my GS3, a great screen a bigger screen, removable/upgradable storage and battery, etc.
I know the camera isnt said to be as good on the N4 but ill probably get one anyways....down the road til i know if it is getting 32GB of storage and if an update will fix the battery life.

As for the iPhone, its a good phone but i hated texting on mine and they havent changed the keyboard....which i hated, not to mention i hated being tied to iTunes.
I tried to downgrade the firmware on my 2G but i needed to find a certain version of iTunes to accomplish this...which i never found after hours of downloading different ones and installing them and it never worked so i restored it using 3.1.3. So i guess that means i cant downgrade my iPod either, which would just to be for better battery life on it(iPod)

iTunes blows!

 

[cnguyen0320]

Alright yeah, the Nexus 4 isn't too bad but Note II, too big. I am pretty jealous of the N4 too, I wish I had one

Anyway, Apple, I think, still wants to stay to one size for each line-up unless for affordability purposes like I stated. And if that stays true, they have to go with a one size fits all philosophy. Whether that be 4" or 4.5", I don't think we'll see more than one size for the iPhone anytime soon.

 

[sentinelsx]

iTunes blows!

lol, iTunes is the witch that makes me not want to use an iPhone again too. Another iOS annoyance on my list.

 

[SomeDudeAsking]

For me, Apple would have to be way less arrogant, stop its bully lawsuits against others, get rid of the outdated iOS, and have a phone with at least a 5.5 inch screen.

 

[Zwhaler]

Honestly after getting comfortable with Android over the last 3 weeks there isn't much Apple can do to bring me back to the iPhone. I doubt they'll release a 5" version soon, which might have brought me back (I'd rather go with a rumored Galaxy S4 with 5" 1080p). I doubt they'll do user replaceable batteries, which isn't a must have for me but is nice when you have it. Notification lights, MUCH IMPROVED notification system and PLZ easily accesible settings like brightness and WiFi! The funny thing is that all of these things listed would only make it close to par with Android in these categories, and unless it can EXCEED Android then I won't be switching.

 

[onthecouchagain]

So far, a lot of the things required before users return to the iPhone don't seem at all outrageous. In fact, if you look at it, a lot of the things being asked are just to catch up to what some of the competition is doing and already offering. It's clear people just want Apple to deliver on a few more things.

 

[tensiondeadache]

a few easy fixes would win me back:

better materials than the aluminum used on the iPhone 5, something that would make it feel more sturdy

Capacitive home button. They could just put the apple logo there, but that would be copying WP I guess

Keep the 16:9 screen but make it a bit bigger

Make iOS a little more tweakable

 

[Oohara]

I'm a long time iPhone user, currently on a 4S, so I'll turn this on its head just a tad - What changes to iOS would make me not choose Android for my next phone?

Let me choose default apps. For example I prefer Chrome to Safari and it is incredibly frustrating every time I am forced to use Safari, for example when clicking a web link inside another app.

Make better use of the notifications tray. Quick settings, for the love of God!!

Larger screen. Not just taller.

Widgets. I can see a ton of uses for this. I'd especially like to have my calendar open and visible on one of my homescreens.

A more dynamic homescreen UI in general. Why just one background tile behind all the homescreens? I love it when you scroll to the side on an Android and the background moves with it just a notch, creating that sense of depth. Also I like stuff like pinch to show all homescreens. Customizable gestures. And so on. Just DO something with the freaking UI.

Swipe to close running apps. Or some equally smooth equivalent. The longpress on bottom row of icons is incredibly frustrating and takes forever if you have many apps running (semi-running/idle, whatever it actually is on iOS). The vanilla Android approach to this is just beautiful, and how it should be.

Innovation. Just a sense of excitement, of moving forward. Kind of an overarching statement but yeah, iOS isn't really "happening". Moving to an iPhone 5 from the 4S just doesn't feel exciting enough. Not making better use of the insane tech specs smartphones have today compared to just a few years ago just feels like such a waste.

On the other side - sorry if the way I am addressing this is something of a derail, but I felt these deserved to be mentioned as well - What do I hope Apple keeps in iOS/iPhone, even if the changes above were introduced?

Uniform icons. I don't know why Android continues to look so sloppy and amateurish when it comes to this. Different sizes, text flowing too far to the side, etc., even for Google's own stock icons! This one makes it difficult to switch to Android as I'm a bit OCD on having a tight looking workspace, and that includes the homescreen on my phone. Of course you can't ask that all app creators be awesome designers and make equally good looking icons, but on iOS they are at least all uniform. And I know, I can customize them on Android...but I don't want to have to go through the hassle. And honestly I've not seen any custom Android icons that look as good as those on iOS.

Phone build quality/design. Sorry, but to me there is no Android phone that's even close yet. The Nexus 4 is the best so far, but my 4S is still in a different league IMO. Apple just keeps it so damn solid. This is a big one for me.

Physical homebutton. I know most of you hate this but to me this one is important. Feeling that soft but defined click connects me to the functioning of the device in a way no visual or haptic feedback can ever achieve. I can feel it literally in my bones that something has happened, I have issued a command and the device has received it. I think this confers trust in the device on a very profound level. You may laugh but I actually think this is a key factor in the continued success of the iPhone (when paired with the near flawless outer design of the device). Our sense of touch is more direct than thought - a high quality tactile response does more for making you feel paired with your device than any visual cue or haptic feedback will ever do. (This goes for the mute speaker button too - I love this one as well.) I know homebuttons break, but in general this seems to be a marginal issue. Personally, I've not had a iPhone home button go even a little limp since 2008, nor has anyone I know ever suffered a broken homebutton on their iPhone.

Alright, hope this wasn't a total derail and sorry for the wall of text...freelancer procrastination setting in hard this morning...

 

[Jessica Lares]

I just want an iPhone that I don't have to spend an additional $50 just so it doesn't break/shatter.

 

[Twixt]

I have technically not left yet as still using my old 3GS but my next phone will be a Note2.
I would need a much larger screen, in the 4.8-5 inch region.
Also a much more flexible OS, I am tired of not having a my documents folder or having to use crappy itunes to load my phone etc
iOS was brillant some years ago when phoning mattered, today these phones are all about not phoning any more getting closer to computers CPU and usage wise.

 

[zbarvian]

Well, at the rate Android is moving at, my next phone will most likely be an Android phone. So here's what the iPhone would need to stop me.

- Larger screen, minimal bezel: I'm thinking 4.5-4.7 inches, at like 1704x960 resolution (exactly 1.5 times greater so there's no black bars before app updates)
- Bring Mission Control and Dashboard (widgets) to iOS; akin to http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dMi6Si4nN4k for Mission Control
- More gesture-based
- Keyboard improvements, more lockscreen and homescreen utility, Siri enhancements, etc.
- Some basic customization (please?)

Apple has hardware and visual design down pat, and iOS is a rock solid foundation, but they aren't adding enough or adequately improving it. Google is doing cooler things, but it needs to be reworked IMO for a better experience. Seeing as how Duarte said its only "1/3rd of where they want to be in terms of polish and responsiveness," this makes me believe they will be actively working at touch responsiveness, battery life improvements, visual design, and polish, all of which are the only things lacking at this point (besides the app ecosystem, which will likely get better).

 

[mattopotamus]

While I agree they need to go bigger, people who say the IOS has not changed are not using an iphone. While it may look the same, each version of IOS... 4 to 5 and 5 to 6 bring significant changes and improvements. I accredit it to the fact that the IOS is an open app drawer so people assume it stays the same. Someone mentioned IOS 5 brought siri and IOS 6 brought maps.....that screams to me someone at the outside looking in.

 

[theluggage]

Anyway, Apple, I think, still wants to stay to one size for each line-up unless for affordability purposes like I stated.

...yet they offer two sizes (and different pixel densities) of iPad, 4 sizes of iPod, two sizes of iMac, two sizes of MacBook Pro and MacBook Air (more if you count retina vs. old-style as different sizes).

I suspect that one of Apple's problems is that some of the design decisions they made about iOS - limited multitasking, no widgets - made good sense back in the iPhone 1/iPad 1 days. Since then, however, mobile hardware has advanced considerably. My old HTC Hero slowed to a crawl if you loaded it up with widgets and didn't run a task killer. The Galaxy Note 2 doesn't break a sweat.

 

[onthecouchagain]

We'll likely have to wait until 2014 before ever considering the switch, not that anyone is surprised by this:

https://www.macrumors.com/2012/12/05/first-claimed-images-of-iphone-5s-rear-shell-surface/

 

[zbarvian]

We'll likely have to wait until 2014 before ever considering the switch, not that anyone is surprised by this:

https://www.macrumors.com/2012/12/05/first-claimed-images-of-iphone-5s-rear-shell-surface/

I don't believe it for a second. Apple can't afford a 5S.

 

[onthecouchagain]

I don't believe it for a second. Apple can't afford a 5S.

Maybe, maybe not. But the last thing that's hard to believe is an iPhone 5S.

Tim Cook has definitely broken some traditions since taking over, so I am equally hoping for more in 2013.

 

[mattopotamus]

I would be totally shocked if they made a redesign. I think the 5S is a sure thing, and the 6 will be the big change everyone is looking for. The 5S will really have to have something the 5 does not offer for me to upgrade. Hardware wise it will be negligible. The only reason I upgraded from the 4S was LTE and the design change, and there is nothing IMO that will merit the jump to a 5S (could care-a-less about NFC). I think apple will be just fine making a 5S b.c each iphone always outsells the previous version....you just won't have the big jump from users of the 5 to the 5S. It is similar to the ipad 3 to 4 change. Very few people are upgrading from an ipad 3 to an ipad 4. With the way hardware is, upping the specs will have zero real world performance difference.

 

[zbarvian]

Maybe, maybe not. But the last thing that's hard to believe is an iPhone 5S.

Tim Cook has definitely broken some traditions since taking over, so I am equally hoping for more in 2013.

Historically, it would certainly be likely for Apple to do a 5S. They really shouldn't, though.

 

[mattopotamus]

Historically, it would certainly be likely for Apple to do a 5S. They really shouldn't, though.

Well they are not going to skip a year of making a new phone, and I would be totally shocked if they ditched a new design that fast.

 

[daveathall]

I agree with zb, I think that they could wait 18 months ( EDIT; or even 15 months) before a new release, the iPhone 5 is good enough to last that extra 6 months (IMHO) and then release a redesigned kick ass phone that blows the competition out of the water, it would have to be really good though, I'm thinking like the game changer that the iP4 was.

 

[zbarvian]

Well they are not going to skip a year of making a new phone, and I would be totally shocked if they ditched a new design that fast.

We'll have to see. The competition is getting better, waiting 2 years for an iPhone 6 would be a bad decision, methinks.