Why I will never go Android again

[wonderspark]

I see your frustration, but I've been pretty happy with my first Android phone, an HTC Inspire 4G. It launched with 2.2.1 Froyo with the custom HTC Sense 2.0 skin as the user interface. The OS was later updated on August 8, 2011 to 2.3.3 with Sense 2.1 and again on July 31, 2012 to Android 2.3.5 with Sense 3.0

I also have an iPhone 3GS, which currently has 5.1.1 on it, which I really like. I had my iPhone jailbroken for many great features like SBSettings and such, but eventually Apple copied and integrated the cool things jailbreaking offered in their iOS updates, and now I leave it unjailbroken on 5.1.1. I won't go to iOS 6, because I really love it the way it is, and my Android phone does all the greatest turn-by-turn voice navigation I could ever want, flawlessly at that.

Both my phones are out of contract, and both are unlocked, so now I use both to travel overseas with prepaid SIM cards. They both work so brilliantly for this, that at this point I'm only waiting to see who makes a new multi-band phone that can do EVERYthing my two phones do now, in one phone. I think that might be the Galaxy S4 or something not yet out. It annoys me that iPhones come in three radio band flavors, but if I were to get an iPhone 5, it would probably be the Verizon one for the better radio band selection for my traveling purposes.

 

[LachlanH]

Didn't know you got free tethering. That's cool.

I think you falling for the ploy apple uses to not support devices. Apple just doesn't give it features.

Example, why doesn't the 4 get FaceTime over cellular? It works fine with jailbreak. So why can't it support the more streamline FaceTime?

Same goes with Siri.

With Android you need to be wary of device or be prepared to root. I can understand why people don't like this solution. I stick with nexus devices only with Android. Not only will it be supported for 18 months after that there is good developer support to upgrade it further.

Regardless I think you'll be happy with the iPhone. I'm finding iOS 6 to be a bit bugging so I'm anxiously waiting 6.1 or whatever.

Oh I am well aware Apple leave out features on older hardware to entice people to upgrade. I don't like it and think it's a dirty tactic. Sometimes there are hardware limitations but often it's just a choice they have made.

As I said though, they DO get new features on a phone thats 2 years old. Some new features are better than none.

I do agree with the Nexus idea. When I got my HTC Desire, my workmate took great humour in updating his phone right next to me. I think he was on 2.3 before I got 2.2. He had a Nexus One.

And yeah IF I had to pay for tethering......well that would possibly be a different story. I use tethering often and would HATE the idea of having to pay extra for it. I think I would have to stick with Android or jailbreak. Luckily I don't have to make that choice. We still have lame data plans like you guys, and I think we pay way more for excess data. Like...10c per megabyte. (Or $100 for 1GB over)

 

[kdarling]

Probably hardware limitations. It's a phone that's 2 years old. Android phones don't get updated ever. When they do that's the only time it will get updated before being forgotten. At least your old iPhone is still relevant.

Android phones actually get updated all the time, because their core apps are separate from the OS.

Even my beat up old original Moto Droid (2.2) and HTC Eris (2.1) run Google vector graphics Maps with navigation, for example, and can run all sorts of aftermarket launchers, stock.

Apple has left iP4 users without Siri, turn by turn navigation, Flyover, FaceTime over cell, Panorama, AirPlay mirroring, and probably more I can't think of at the moment.

And on earlier iPhones, Apple left out core features like MMS, video camera, voice control, in OS upgrades, even though they would've worked.

So I don't understand the OP's gripe.

Agreed. But everyone has a tipping point, often an app they want/need. In this case, tethering.

 

[dmelgar]

Same boat for me. I've had an HTC incredible then HTC thunderbolt. Both have stupid software issues. Once they have your money, there is no interest to fix it. Lots of supposed features that never worked well or at all and no updates. I give. I'm very happy with my iPhone 5 and getting more impressed with it over time.

The incredible had a problem for months when it came out, that a long download would crash the entire phone and cause a reboot.

The phone has around 6 gb of memory but it turns out apps live in a tiny 300mb partition. Ran out of that real quick. Was there EVER an update to fix that? Heck no. Buy a new phone.

Not to mention crappy battery life and junky hardware. I had to buy a huge double size battery to try and make it through a day. And the screen has all these dots in it as the touch sensor. And worried about multi touch limitations.

So I bought an HTC thunderbolt. First lte phone. Sure I had to buy an enormous battery to make it through the day. Ended up with a huge brick of a phone. Then I notice lots of bugs, but never a fix. Voice recognition doesn't register anything half the time, and it complains to you to speak louder. Unreliable touches even on the large keyboard. Almost daily reboots. Reboots that take 5 minutes. Then FINALLY an update this past May. Great update. Since then LTE is broken. Does HTC fix it? Does Verizon? Heck no. They say its out of warranty even though its clearly a software issue. They say buy a new phone.

Got so bad I switched back to my incredible while waiting for the iPhone 5. Then on there now pandora will only play 30 seconds of any song. I've tried everything. Doesn't work.

Not worth selling either one. They're worth practically nothing.

HTC PROMISED to put ice cream sandwich on the thunderbolt. They've been working on it for almost a year. Then they PROMISED it would be out in August. DIDN'T HAPPEN. I don't care anymore. I have a new working phone.

I develop apps for both platforms so I don't want to get rid of them anyway.

I used to like the freedoms of android, but realized its been turned against the platform so that manufacturers and carriers can treat it like the old phone appliance model.

You bought it, your stuck with it.

 

[pragmatous]

I'm not talking about apps being updated I'm talking about the actual operating system version. Your moto droid will never see 4.1 even though it's like 2 years old.

Android phones actually get updated all the time, because their core apps are separate from the OS.

Even my beat up old original Moto Droid (2.2) and HTC Eris (2.1) run Google vector graphics Maps with navigation, for example, and can run all sorts of aftermarket launchers, stock.



And on earlier iPhones, Apple left out core features like MMS, video camera, voice control, in OS upgrades, even though they would've worked.



Agreed. But everyone has a tipping point, often an app they want/need. In this case, tethering.

 

[LachlanH]

Same boat for me. I've had an HTC incredible then HTC thunderbolt. Both have stupid software issues. Once they have your money, there is no interest to fix it. Lots of supposed features that never worked well or at all and no updates. I give. I'm very happy with my iPhone 5 and getting more impressed with it over time.

The incredible had a problem for months when it came out, that a long download would crash the entire phone and cause a reboot.

The phone has around 6 gb of memory but it turns out apps live in a tiny 300mb partition. Ran out of that real quick. Was there EVER an update to fix that? Heck no. Buy a new phone.

Not to mention crappy battery life and junky hardware. I had to buy a huge double size battery to try and make it through a day. And the screen has all these dots in it as the touch sensor. And worried about multi touch limitations.

So I bought an HTC thunderbolt. First lte phone. Sure I had to buy an enormous battery to make it through the day. Ended up with a huge brick of a phone. Then I notice lots of bugs, but never a fix. Voice recognition doesn't register anything half the time, and it complains to you to speak louder. Unreliable touches even on the large keyboard. Almost daily reboots. Reboots that take 5 minutes. Then FINALLY an update this past May. Great update. Since then LTE is broken. Does HTC fix it? Does Verizon? Heck no. They say its out of warranty even though its clearly a software issue. They say buy a new phone.

Got so bad I switched back to my incredible while waiting for the iPhone 5. Then on there now pandora will only play 30 seconds of any song. I've tried everything. Doesn't work.

Not worth selling either one. They're worth practically nothing.

HTC PROMISED to put ice cream sandwich on the thunderbolt. They've been working on it for almost a year. Then they PROMISED it would be out in August. DIDN'T HAPPEN. I don't care anymore. I have a new working phone.

I develop apps for both platforms so I don't want to get rid of them anyway.

I used to like the freedoms of android, but realized its been turned against the platform so that manufacturers and carriers can treat it like the old phone appliance model.

You bought it, your stuck with it.

Wow... I am glad I didn't have your experience.
One issue I have is whenever I am at my girlfriends, my phone goes from fully charged to totally flat in literally 2 hours, if that.

I'm sure it is because I get poorish signal at her place but I can still make phone calls and see a couple of bars of 3g coverage. But completely flat in 2 hours, every time. Meanwhile her slightly newer Desire HD doesn't have that issue. I will be very interested to see if the iphone 5 has this issue as I will be with the same carrier.

 

[cynics]

I'm not talking about apps being updated I'm talking about the actual operating system version. Your moto droid will never see 4.1 even though it's like 2 years old.

And what changed from iOS 5 to 6? Do not disturb, reply with text, crappy fb integration and maybe a couple other useless things. The OS hasnt really changed in function or appearance.

Everything else was the apps. Find my friends app, maps app, mail app, safari app, App Store app etc. All these things are apps on Android that get updated separately and way more often albeit the Android version like latitude in place of find my friends and google play instead of App Store.

So people are waiting for an update to the App Store because if crashing and poor/no performance (mine is ok thankfully). Apple is going to have to update the ENTIRE operating system to fix a couple of bugs in a single app. That will take quite a bit of time vs just fixing the App Store and updating it.

 

[Hyper-X]

Another relevant point is that the resale value of the SGS3 will most likely be lower than the iPhone 5 next fall.

Not so sure about that. The iP5 has not made a strong presence compared to the iPhone 4S. There hasn't been this many complaints about any iPhone since the "death grip" issue of the original 4.

When you mention iPhone 5 to anyone, people immediately associate it with defective maps. For build quality, someone who knows what the 4s feels like will think the 5 feels cheap due to the weight difference.

Also many Android phones are true "world phones" as in they support both CDMA and GSM the caveat being the carrier may disable one or the other. Retail box full price, unlocked Apple iPhone 5 is GSM only, absolutely incapable of being used on any CDMA network. The Verizon version can't even do SVLTE even though the network is capable of it due to a lack of an extra antenna only found on AT&T iPhones. It's like Apple deliberately screwed over Verizon in favor of AT&T. Sprint is simply garbage, their network is slow, their existing 3G customers using iPhones are by majority experiencing EDGE data speeds and their LTE is even less developed than any other major carrier, makes you wonder why Sprint even decided to play with the big dogs Verizon and AT&T. Having unlimited data has no value when the data network experience makes you think you're back on dial-up.

The S3 is easy to service, old batteries can be replaced easily, has the hardware to do SVLTE, needs no jailbreak to extract the full potential of the device. The battery cover is cheap to replace so it's not hard to restore the S3 to almost like-new condition much easier and cheaper than you would a scratched up iPhone 5.

 

[TheMTtakeover]

Seems to me that you don't like android because you didn't get the device you really wanted. That is far from androids fault. You want timely updates get a nexus. Did you do any research at all to see that you could load up a custom ROM and upgrade yourself?

 

[PDFierro]

Could always go with the Nexus line. Easy fix.

 

[Vegastouch]

Hey guys, just thought I would share my experiences with the Android platform and how I have moved from liking Android to despising it. Maybe this will help anyone on the fence.


So in 2010 Apple released the iPhone 4 and Android was hitting around version 2.2

I had never owned a smartphone, just had a basic Nokia dumbphone. The iPhone 4 was all the rage but I was wary of Apple phones as my experience with the Apple brand was limited to my iPad 1. My trainee at work at just gotten himself a Nexus One which I had a play with, and quite liked. After a quick bit of searching I learnt about the HTC Desire. As far as I could tell it was one of HTC's flagship phones. I liked the look of it, so I went and got one on a 2 year contract.

For the first few weeks I loved it. It was my first smartphone and I saw no reason to want an iPhone 4 which at the time was going through antenna issues, reports were coming out of it breaking easily due to being glass etc, and I felt totally happy with my purchase.

Before long however I learned that my phone can wifi tether. I searched everywhere in the settings for it but couldn't find it.

Turns out, my phone was on Android 2.1 Eclair. Wifi Tethering was a feature added in 2.2 Froyo.

Not to worry, I will just update it I thought.
Wrong.

Which begins my first major issue with Android.
Although I bought my phone well after the release of 2.2 Froyo, it still came with 2.1.

Worse yet, the 2.2 update was not available for my phone. Why? Well because of fragmentation.

You see, to get an update to my phones software it has to go through several steps. First, Google must release the Android update. Second, HTC must get that update and add in their custom skin (Sense) and make sure it works. Then, they release that update to the phone carriers, who THEN have to modify the update to make sure it includes their carrier bloatware and BS.

So for an update to be released, it has to goto Google, then to the handset maker, then to the carrier. Which is a BIG problem. Why? Because by the time it gets to the carrier, they are busy selling the latest phone. They don't care at all about spending time on an update to a phone they have already made their money on. It literally means nothing to them.

As it was, the 2.2 update came for my phone some 5 months after 2.2 was released. And that was the only update my phone has ever received.


I always hear people moaning about Apple dropping support for older devices. Spare a thought for those on Android.
The HTC One V has a 1ghz Single core CPU. My Desire is a 1ghz Snapdragon.

The HTC Desire has slightly MORE RAM than the One V. Yet the One V runs Android 4.03

Why am I still on 2.2?

ios6 is available for the iPhone 4 (and 3gs as well I think?)

You see my issue?

So to me, who is due for a new phone, I have ordered an iphone 5.
I'm sure the Galaxy S3 is a great phone. To me thats not the issue. To me the problem is that early next year the S4 will come out and the S3 will be totally forgotten about, never updated and left in the cold.

This isn't even touching on the whole Android App store.

Now I have voiced my complaints about Android to some of my Android loving friends. "Just root your phone" they say. One friend has an S2 and says rooting it was the best thing he ever did to it.

Sure I could root it. But thats so ANTI user friendliness I find it laughable. I should not have to root my phone just to get updates or remove carrier bloatware.

The sheer number of models of all shapes and sizes running Android is killing it in my opinion. A new update comes out and HTC or Samsung or LG or whatever have to look at their DOZENS of models they have released over the last 12-18 months and decide what ones they will support the update on. It may be that all those models could technically run the update, but theres no way they will bother.

Which doesn't exactly endear the customer. If you have a phone thats 18 months old and are still receiving updates to the OS, you at least have that feeling that the company cares about you in some way. At least thats how it would be for me.


Anyway.....my iphone 5 should arrive today. Goodbye Android, and thanks for leaving a sour taste in my mouth.

Whatever....you can switch to the iPhone 5 and immediately know that your Maps are messed up and Cook has already apologized for it and said to download something else

Not to mention they have admitted there is an issue with the iP5 camera as well with it getting some purple or, some sort of color while using it.

You still want to buy it with known issues that wont be fixed anytime soon?

As for Android, you should of kept with the Nexus line if you want faster OS updates and dont want to root. Your apps will be updated all the time and your old HTC Desire is getting the most current Maps as the newest Android. Apple cant say they update all their apps to all older phones.

Android is doing really good now. Far cry from 2.1 but its ok. Go with a phone that you know out of the box will have issues.

 

[Sensamic]

I left my iPhone 4 and bought a SGS3 because I got tired of...

Not getting Siri after only one year.

Two years later I don't get turn by turn (TomTom has turn by turn on the iPhone 4, so why Apple doesn't include it??), facetime over 3G, etc.

And people say Apple is better with updates?

Yeah. Sure...

 

[throAU]

Apple has left iP4 users without Siri, turn by turn navigation, Flyover, FaceTime over cell, Panorama, AirPlay mirroring, and probably more I can't think of at the moment.

So I don't understand the OP's gripe.

At least the iphones get security updates and other software updates. There were hardware reasons for the lack of at least a couple of features not pushed to the 4.

There is a huge number of vulnerable Android devices out there that will never get fixed.

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

At least the iphones get security updates and other software updates. There were hardware reasons for the lack of at least a couple of features not pushed to the 4.

There is a huge number of vulnerable Android devices out there that will never get fixed.

Sources? .....

Like cynics already mentioned. Android app updates usually take care of that. Any serious exploits, the manufacture and/or google actually does update.

 

[blackhand1001]

Don't get me wrong, I love technology. Build my own computers, flash ROM's, etc all the time. I don't have a problem with my phone, or any Android phone, IF you look at that phone in a bubble. Theres nothing my phone can't do now as such that I really want it to. I am updating because my contract ended and it will cost me almost nothing extra a month to get a new phone. I knew months ago though that I would go iPhone, simply because my phone is the exact same phone it was 19 months ago. No updates have come out for it, no new software features etc.

Sure ios6 on the iPhone 4 is missing a heap of features. But the fact that it gained any new features at all is something I cannot say about my current phone 2 years into it's life.

Why not wait for the new nexus. Google actually has a better track record of giving new features to the old handsets than even apple with the nexus series. The nexus s and xoom both have full blown jellybean with all of its features. They don't have a watered down version.

 

[Technarchy]

Eventually, the drama that comes with android gets old.

I gave it a shot all the way from cupcake to Ice Cream Sandwhich, and it just sucks. Yeah, it's got a couple of neat features that I don't care about, but overall, the experience, support, and polish leave me cold.

I see nothing in Jelly Bean that leads me to believe that android is any less of a zoo.

 

[LachlanH]

I left my iPhone 4 and bought a SGS3 because I got tired of...

Not getting Siri after only one year.

Two years later I don't get turn by turn (TomTom has turn by turn on the iPhone 4, so why Apple doesn't include it??), facetime over 3G, etc.

And people say Apple is better with updates?

Yeah. Sure...

See, the SGS 3 is the current flagship Android phone so it's probably a very pleasing phone to own. For now. My gripe is that once the Galaxy S4 or whatever comes to replace it (in a matter of months), they will drop support for the S3 like a ton of bricks. MUCH more so than Apple does with any of their iPhones.

 

[PDFierro]

See, the SGS 3 is the current flagship Android phone so it's probably a very pleasing phone to own. For now. My gripe is that once the Galaxy S4 or whatever comes to replace it (in a matter of months), they will drop support for the S3 like a ton of bricks. MUCH more so than Apple does with any of their iPhones.

Again, why aren't you looking at the Nexus phones? Every other Android phone is going to be an unfair comparison to the iPhone when talking about them not getting the recent updates.

 

[Vegastouch]

Eventually, the drama that comes with android gets old.

I gave it a shot all the way from cupcake to Ice Cream Sandwhich, and it just sucks. Yeah, it's got a couple of neat features that I don't care about, but overall, the experience, support, and polish leave me cold.

I see nothing in Jelly Bean that leads me to believe that android is any less of a zoo.

On what device did you use ICS? Last we saw, you got rid of your GS2 well before ICS came to it. Using your buddy's for a few minutes isnt the same thing and ICS is much, much better than the Froyo i came from and we already know Gingerbread was more a OS for the tablets.

I dont care which device you use but dont get why you always come in this section to only rip Android if you have moved on like you say.

 

[onthecouchagain]

TL;DR: "I didn't do research and I made a mistake. So screw Android for eternity."

It's all good, mate, but that's essentially what happened.

 

[G51989]

Another relevant point is that the resale value of the SGS3 will most likely be lower than the iPhone 5 next fall.

Who cares about the resale value of a phone? Its such a tiny amount of money its 100% irrelevant. Compared to the resale value of your car or house.

Am I the only person who keeps phones until they just stop working? I had a Windows Mobile phone for like 4 years, I didn't run out and upgrade the second something better comes out?

 

[onthecouchagain]

Who cares about the resale value of a phone? Its such a tiny amount of money its 100% irrelevant.

Just one more thing Apple fans will tout to have you believe anything.

I've done the math, and the difference is really marginal. Why? Because Apple products are so expensive to begin with.

I've done the math with unlock phones. At the end, you lose about the same amount. I'm too lazy to go through specifics again, but it essentially looks like this:

Unlocked iPhone = ~$700 bucks
Resale value = ~$500
Lose = ~$200

Unlocked GSIII, for example = ~$600
Resale value = ~$400
Lose = ~$200

Unlocked Galxy Nexus = ~$400
Resale value = ~$200
Lose = ~$200

This is obviously rough math, and I don't doubt iPhones sell easier and are more valuable. I'm simply saying when you do the real math, the margins are a lot smaller than a lot of iPhone fans want you to believe.

And no matter how good the resale value is, doesn't make the iOS experience any better!

 

[Europa13]

Who cares about the resale value of a phone? Its such a tiny amount of money its 100% irrelevant. Compared to the resale value of your car or house.

Am I the only person who keeps phones until they just stop working? I had a Windows Mobile phone for like 4 years, I didn't run out and upgrade the second something better comes out?

A lot of us care. It allows us to upgrade for free on the years that we're eligible for full subsidy. We aren't talking about cars and houses; we're talking about a phone - a phone that has a resale value of $300 or $400 dollars when it's a year old.

 

[Mackan]

Why am I still on 2.2?

ios6 is available for the iPhone 4 (and 3gs as well I think?)

You see my issue?

iOS 6 is only available with limited features on the 3GS. And some features are by purpose not available for older models, since Apple wants you to upgrade and buy new as often as possible. Be prepared to face that as well, when you switch to iPhone.

 

[dmelgar]

Seems to me that you don't like android because you didn't get the device you really wanted. That is far from androids fault. You want timely updates get a nexus. Did you do any research at all to see that you could load up a custom ROM and upgrade yourself?

Even the recent nexus was slow getting updates. I can't remember which one that Verizon was holding up.

----------

iOS 6 is only available with limited features on the 3GS. And some features are by purpose not available for older models, since Apple wants you to upgrade and buy new as often as possible. Be prepared to face that as well, when you switch to iPhone.

Unlike android w no support after 6 months....