It was a vanilla Google phone. Had pure Android on it but the camera was dire. Absolutely terrible.
Are you referring to the GSM Gnex or the Verizon Gnex or both? I'm not sure the Verizon version is pure as Verizon I heard holds back updates?
It was a vanilla Google phone. Had pure Android on it but the camera was dire. Absolutely terrible.
I've owned just about every non-Verizon Android flagship available in the last 2 years, including the Galaxy S3 and Nexus 4. Bought an iPhone 5 about two weeks ago because I was really upset about how Google lied to so many people about the shipping fiasco with the Nexus 4.
Still own the Nexus 4, and will probably keep it, but right now I'm leaning towards using the iPhone as my daily driver.
Generally, I still think Android as an operating system is vastly more sophisticated than is iOS. Options galore. Widgets. Sound profile applications. More control over hardware (i.e., I actually get to choose whether my wifi turns off when I turn my screen off), etc. I won't go into it here because that's not the purpose of this thread. I will just say that if you have used and liked Android, you will definitely be aware of missing features and options on iOS. The best way I can describe it is that iOS is very "binary" -- something is either on, or it is off. In Android, there's a lot of middle ground between "on" and "off" from which you can choose.
That being said, the reason I'm probably going to keep the iPhone 5 as my daily driver is because there is some elegance to the simplicity of iOS. iOS is not without it's problems, but it does "just work," for the most part. Also, the hardware is unquestionably superior to even the best that Android has to offer. The camera is excellent. And I love the form factor.
I really think you'll just need to buy one and see. If you get it from an Apple store you have a 30 day return policy + no restocking fee. So no harm in trying.
P.S. If I could get vanilla Android 4.2 on iPhone 5 hardware (heck, or even iPhone 4S hardware) I would be in absolute heaven. I think that would be the perfect phone.
iPhone 4 > Galaxy S2 > HTC Sensation > HTC One X > Galaxy Note > Galaxy Nexus > Galaxy S3 > iPhone 5.
Those in bold were mistakes. Expensive mistakes.
Within a day of having the iPhone 5 I felt completely at home.
If it wasn't laggy homescreens or apps chewing away battery life in the background, having to root and install custom roms to remove bloatware or generally have many poorly performing apps.... I will never EVER bother with Android again. And I was flying the torch for it. I saw so much potential but I just cannot see Google being firm in it's delivery. It will be a scattered mess forever.
iOS has it's limitations but nowhere near as bad as they were when I was on iOS 4 previously.
Even the little things like emoji and stock messaging app are like crack ....even on Jellybean they never performed the way they should.
The S3 has a superb camera, it has many more options than the iPhone 5 but for pure point and click value, my iP5 is knocking out some superb pics without effort and sharing them has been a great experience with photostream and such.
Apple have got me. I actually resent them as a business and their practices, but I just cannot deny all they do is a pleasure to be involved with.
I am really struggling to see how they can improve on the 5 though. The 5S will surely be a sidegrade more than anything.
iPhone 4 -> iPhone 4S -> Galaxy S3 -> iPhone 4S -> iPhone 5
I was an Apple user for a very long time and when the S3 came out i couldn't help myself and sold my 4S, bought the s3. It was great at first with the widgets etc, but after obsessing over the home screen and realising widgets aren't as useful as you convinced yourself they were gonna be (Most you have to manually tap to update, in which case your best off just launching the full app, which makes widgets pointless) i went back to iOS, its only when you lose something you realise how good it is! Sure its minimal but I rather the minimalism if its going to sync seamlessly with my iPad, iPod touch and MacBook!
So did you miss the bigger screen going from S3 to iP5?
I can tell you going from the Nexus 4 back to the iPhone 5 didn't bother me one bit. Yes the N4 screen is much bigger, but was not one hand friendly at all. It felt too wide to hold in the hand. I thought I would like the wider phone, but didn't after a few days.
The first day back with the iP5 it felt small, but after a few days it was just fine again.
Hard to explain, but everyones opinion will vary.
I have both the N4 and the iphone 4S
moving from the blackberry to the iphone was easy, moving to androied is hard,
like the zise of the N4 but can't get used to the androied software, keep moving back to the iphone,
just don't like the zise of the iphone I wish it was like the N4
and not 3.5 long IP5
So did you miss the bigger screen going from S3 to iP5?
Your posts, with you using a lot of Androids, have almost persuaded me!
I won't be jailbreaking, so will miss some features of Android though. I will miss the keyboards swiftkey/swype, getting tired on one option of tap tap on my iPad.
Is SIRI any real use now? I've used S-voice like 10 times, then can't be bothered and forgot about it.
Are you referring to the GSM Gnex or the Verizon Gnex or both? I'm not sure the Verizon version is pure as Verizon I heard holds back updates?
I'm going back to Android after a year with the iPhone 4S. I'm going to miss the absolutely perfect form factor of the 4S, but here are a few of the factors that made me switch back (in no particular order):
1. LTE. I need to get on LTE, as HSPA+ slows down in areas with dense usage. The iPhone 5 doesn't have a JB yet, so it's not an option yet. Also, AT&T hasn't been maintaining their HSPA+ network, so it has bad latency and just feels slow, even though in many places, it's doing 4-6mbps.
2. Lightning. I don't want to deal with buying $100 of stupid proprietary cables when I already have dock connector and micro-USB cables coming out of my ears. Lightning was an absolutely idiotic move on Apple's part, and I'm seeing how long I can stay away from it (probably a while considering the iPad 3 will have software update support for several years).
3. Google Now and other innovations. Apple isn't innovating, just refining and polishing the same functionality the OG Droid had on Verizon several years ago. Google Now is a fundamental innovation about how we interact with our phones. Whether or not I use it a lot, we'll see, but at least I know Google is innovating.
4. Cost. I got the SGS III for $50 from BestBuy, and another $50 for a MicroSD card. The iPhone 5 would have been $400 plus another $100 for Lightning cables.
5. The SGS III will have a Lifeproof case soon, which was one thing holding me on the iPhone.
6. Google Maps. Yes, they do have it on the iPhone now, but it still doesn't have a lot of the functionality that it does on the Android side.
7. Cleaner, more modern interface. The whole Skeuomorphism thing is driving me nuts. Google unashamedly has no ties to the past, they blaze forward with a new look, including the gorgeous Roboto font.
8. Customization and widgets. I am beholden to Jailbreaking and stuck on iOS 5.0.1 in order to have basic customization like a quick settings menu, and the ability to tether on the 2GB AT&T plan.
There are plenty of die hard fans who see it as a lagging.
Strategic Choice? It's becoming very apparent how dated iOS is...
I know... A dumb as$ strategic choice. What really bothers me is the apple fan boys defending it that no widgets is correct. And they are happy making 5 clicks for turning on or off every option.
How stupid is that
1. iPhone 5 is LTE...am I missing something here?
2. Understandable, but how many cables does one person need? The phone comes with one and personally just bought one more for the car. iPhone 5 battery lasts all day even with heavy usage.
3. Google Now is alright. I used it twice with the Nexus 4. It gave me traffic updates and was hardly that useful. I actually shut it on the Nexus 4 because battery life was meh to begin with. Every user will have opinions about Google Now.
4. Understandable, but that's on contract price. I take it you were looking into the 64GB iP5. Again, this is all personal preference, but devices these days don't need high storage with most data and documents in Cloud services.
5. Much more cases and accessories for the iP5 and the Lifeproof case is definitely a solid choice if you need protection like that.
6. Google even said the Google Maps is more polished and has more features on iOS devices right now. Plus, Apple Maps (well for me) here in Florida has been rock solid and hasn't failed me once. It is nice to have Google Maps though as an alternative choice.
7. Personal preference. I really enjoyed Jelly Bean on the Nexus 4, but some of the UI was a little blah. Both iOS and Jelly Bean has pros and cons in this department.
8. Yes Android wins here. You can't even place app icons where you want STILL in iOS. Plus it's been 73 degrees on my iPhone Weather app for 5 years. Boring yes, but after a little bit of customizing and placing widgets on the Nexus 4, I found myself changing things around more than actually using device sometimes. It is very nice to have these options though regardless. iOS NEEDS to add toggles to there Notifications.
In summary, I see where your coming from. Looking for something more open and a fresh change. I tried it with vanilla Android and the Nexus 4, which is supposedly a Top 3 Android device, but it the end it fell short.
I would keep your 4S just in case you don't like the SG3