So here I am with an iPhone 4S.
A couple of years ago I ditched iOS for something different, something new, something Android. I went from the HTC Desire HD, to the Galaxy S2, to the Galaxy S3, and now the S4. For the most part I've been happy with Android - anything I've wanted to do with it that it couldn't do out of the box I've been able to figure out a way to get it to work.
But then, a few days ago, for the first time in 2-3 years, I had my phone play up. My S4, which was only 32 days old, crapped out a dead display. One minute it was working fine and the next it was dead. The phone still turned on, received calls, had functioning capacitive buttons and notification LED, but there was no display.
I took it to where I bought it and I was told that because it was 2 days outside their return window, they couldn't just do a swap and had to send it away to have the display replaced.
But they offered me a loan phone - an iPhone 4S.
Not wanting to be without a phone for a week, I accepted, and honestly had been looking forward to seeing how iOS had changed in the few years since I'd used it properly.
After 4 days, I've compiled a list of what I feel is great, what I think, frankly, sucks, and what I'm on the fence about.
Just to brief you, the unit I was given is a 64gb iPhone 4S with latest firmware, wiped completely fresh and set up as a new phone in iTunes.
What I like about the iPhone 4S/iOS 6:
- 'Slide to unlock' notifications. I love that you can open a message/email/facebook note by sliding the icon across when it pops up. Very well implemented and easy to make use of.
- 'Grid' uniformity. Stale though it may be called, I feel there is still a decent amount of charm in iOS' simple approach to a home screen. The fact that each icon is uniform and aligned is pleasing aesthetically.
- Camera. Though definitely not cutting edge anymore, it still holds up relatively well against some of the newer shooters. Certainly not at the level of the S4/One shooters, but definitely capable of taking great photos that I wouldn't be ashamed to share around.
- iTunes Syncing. Even though I can get Android to do this with a 'middleman' app, I find the iTunes music sync still has a place. Its quick, painless and efficient.
- iCloud. Initially someone who didn't like the idea of iCloud, I do see its benefit. Though I probably won't have this phone for long enough to need to use its backup capabilities, I've always liked how iPhones can restore a 'freeze state' of your iDevice. Google would do well to try and replicate this.
- Siri. Even though Google Now is streets ahead (imo), Siri is working a LOT better than I remember her doing last time I used it. I live in Australia, so a lot of the US commands don't work here, but it still gave me pretty accurate results.
What I don't like about the iPhone 4S/iOS 6:
- No back button. I realise that this is just something that has been bred in from using Android for such a long time, but I find myself constantly reaching for the bottom right hand side of the phone to go back. I know that a lot of apps have the back arrow in the top left corner, but it doesn't always work the same.
- The screen. God damn it. After an hour I was already very uncomfortable using this thing. People say that 5" is too big, but after using a 5", the 4S feels stupidly restrictive. Screen quality is still good, but it's just too damn small.
- Apple apps. I know it's been said time and time again, but I HATE that I can't set Chrome as my default browser. That's all that really needs to be said. Hate it hate it hate it.
- Non-customization. I literally spend 2-3 minutes trying to move my 'Music' app to the bottom right hand corner of my homescreen before I realised that you can't do that. As someone who spends a lot of time initially setting up a homescreen to look and function how I want it to, this REALLY irritated me.
- Scrolling. This is something that I didn't give a thought to until I realised what was going on. If you have a really long vertical webpage and you perform a long flick on an Android device, the page will stream down a long way. If you do a short flick, the page will move a short amount.
In iOS, if you flick short, it will move a short amount. If you flick long, it will move the same short amount. This is driving me NUTS.
- iTunes Syncing. Yeah, I know I said it was something I liked, but it's also something I hate. I like it for music, but I hate it for everything else. On my S4 I had several TV seasons that I could just drag across and then delete when I was done with them. With iTunes I need to import them into iTunes, convert them if iTunes doesn't like the format, then sync them across, and when I want to get rid of them I have to go and unsync them. It's a whole ordeal.
- Lack of share options. I know Apple added FB and Twitter in iOS 6, but I miss being able to share anything to anywhere I wanted.
- Lack of a file system. I know, again this is something that has been bred into me by Android itself, but it now feels like something that seems so simple and obvious. Contrary to popular belief held by iOS users, a file system does not make the user experience more complex. In fact, in most situations you can go without ever using it. But having it there is fantastic, and I miss it on here.
What I'm undecided about RE: the iPhone 4S/iOS 6:
- The build quality. We always hear the Apple is the master of build quality etc, but to be honest - after ergonomically rounded plastic, glass and metal feels really inhospitable. It's always cold with sharp edges and the corners dig into the fleshy part of my thumb. It's not terrible, but it's certainly not overly pleasant.
- Removal of useless apps. I know iOS doesn't have an app drawer (or rather the homescreen IS the app drawer), but being able to disable/hide apps off the homescreen would be really nice, and I'm unsure as to why we can't do this. It actually makes the whole lot look REALLY messy having to stow them away in a corner. They look so out of place.
- Claims of 'lag free'. It's not a dealbreaker, but iOS is certainly not as lag free in contrast to Android as everyone is claiming. Every time I swipe left to get to the search box, it stutters. When I open the camera, it stutters. When I quickly scroll through facebook feeds, it stutters. When I open the settings menu, it hangs for a second.
Now I understand that the 4S is a generation old, but surely the previous generation shouldn't struggle as much as this. The HTC One X, Galaxy Nexus and Galaxy S3's aren't this bad.
So those are the points I can think of for now - I'll update this list if I think of anything else, but I've had an interesting time with the phone over the past 4 days, and I should have it for another week or so, and will be updating this if anything changes!
A couple of years ago I ditched iOS for something different, something new, something Android. I went from the HTC Desire HD, to the Galaxy S2, to the Galaxy S3, and now the S4. For the most part I've been happy with Android - anything I've wanted to do with it that it couldn't do out of the box I've been able to figure out a way to get it to work.
But then, a few days ago, for the first time in 2-3 years, I had my phone play up. My S4, which was only 32 days old, crapped out a dead display. One minute it was working fine and the next it was dead. The phone still turned on, received calls, had functioning capacitive buttons and notification LED, but there was no display.
I took it to where I bought it and I was told that because it was 2 days outside their return window, they couldn't just do a swap and had to send it away to have the display replaced.
But they offered me a loan phone - an iPhone 4S.
Not wanting to be without a phone for a week, I accepted, and honestly had been looking forward to seeing how iOS had changed in the few years since I'd used it properly.
After 4 days, I've compiled a list of what I feel is great, what I think, frankly, sucks, and what I'm on the fence about.
Just to brief you, the unit I was given is a 64gb iPhone 4S with latest firmware, wiped completely fresh and set up as a new phone in iTunes.
What I like about the iPhone 4S/iOS 6:
- 'Slide to unlock' notifications. I love that you can open a message/email/facebook note by sliding the icon across when it pops up. Very well implemented and easy to make use of.
- 'Grid' uniformity. Stale though it may be called, I feel there is still a decent amount of charm in iOS' simple approach to a home screen. The fact that each icon is uniform and aligned is pleasing aesthetically.
- Camera. Though definitely not cutting edge anymore, it still holds up relatively well against some of the newer shooters. Certainly not at the level of the S4/One shooters, but definitely capable of taking great photos that I wouldn't be ashamed to share around.
- iTunes Syncing. Even though I can get Android to do this with a 'middleman' app, I find the iTunes music sync still has a place. Its quick, painless and efficient.
- iCloud. Initially someone who didn't like the idea of iCloud, I do see its benefit. Though I probably won't have this phone for long enough to need to use its backup capabilities, I've always liked how iPhones can restore a 'freeze state' of your iDevice. Google would do well to try and replicate this.
- Siri. Even though Google Now is streets ahead (imo), Siri is working a LOT better than I remember her doing last time I used it. I live in Australia, so a lot of the US commands don't work here, but it still gave me pretty accurate results.
What I don't like about the iPhone 4S/iOS 6:
- No back button. I realise that this is just something that has been bred in from using Android for such a long time, but I find myself constantly reaching for the bottom right hand side of the phone to go back. I know that a lot of apps have the back arrow in the top left corner, but it doesn't always work the same.
- The screen. God damn it. After an hour I was already very uncomfortable using this thing. People say that 5" is too big, but after using a 5", the 4S feels stupidly restrictive. Screen quality is still good, but it's just too damn small.
- Apple apps. I know it's been said time and time again, but I HATE that I can't set Chrome as my default browser. That's all that really needs to be said. Hate it hate it hate it.
- Non-customization. I literally spend 2-3 minutes trying to move my 'Music' app to the bottom right hand corner of my homescreen before I realised that you can't do that. As someone who spends a lot of time initially setting up a homescreen to look and function how I want it to, this REALLY irritated me.
- Scrolling. This is something that I didn't give a thought to until I realised what was going on. If you have a really long vertical webpage and you perform a long flick on an Android device, the page will stream down a long way. If you do a short flick, the page will move a short amount.
In iOS, if you flick short, it will move a short amount. If you flick long, it will move the same short amount. This is driving me NUTS.
- iTunes Syncing. Yeah, I know I said it was something I liked, but it's also something I hate. I like it for music, but I hate it for everything else. On my S4 I had several TV seasons that I could just drag across and then delete when I was done with them. With iTunes I need to import them into iTunes, convert them if iTunes doesn't like the format, then sync them across, and when I want to get rid of them I have to go and unsync them. It's a whole ordeal.
- Lack of share options. I know Apple added FB and Twitter in iOS 6, but I miss being able to share anything to anywhere I wanted.
- Lack of a file system. I know, again this is something that has been bred into me by Android itself, but it now feels like something that seems so simple and obvious. Contrary to popular belief held by iOS users, a file system does not make the user experience more complex. In fact, in most situations you can go without ever using it. But having it there is fantastic, and I miss it on here.
What I'm undecided about RE: the iPhone 4S/iOS 6:
- The build quality. We always hear the Apple is the master of build quality etc, but to be honest - after ergonomically rounded plastic, glass and metal feels really inhospitable. It's always cold with sharp edges and the corners dig into the fleshy part of my thumb. It's not terrible, but it's certainly not overly pleasant.
- Removal of useless apps. I know iOS doesn't have an app drawer (or rather the homescreen IS the app drawer), but being able to disable/hide apps off the homescreen would be really nice, and I'm unsure as to why we can't do this. It actually makes the whole lot look REALLY messy having to stow them away in a corner. They look so out of place.
- Claims of 'lag free'. It's not a dealbreaker, but iOS is certainly not as lag free in contrast to Android as everyone is claiming. Every time I swipe left to get to the search box, it stutters. When I open the camera, it stutters. When I quickly scroll through facebook feeds, it stutters. When I open the settings menu, it hangs for a second.
Now I understand that the 4S is a generation old, but surely the previous generation shouldn't struggle as much as this. The HTC One X, Galaxy Nexus and Galaxy S3's aren't this bad.
So those are the points I can think of for now - I'll update this list if I think of anything else, but I've had an interesting time with the phone over the past 4 days, and I should have it for another week or so, and will be updating this if anything changes!
