My thoughts on returning to iPhone.

randomtask · Apr 20, 2013

I left the Apple phone eco-sphere after I changed from iPhone 3GS to a Samsung galaxy s2, back in early 2011. I decided against an iPhone 4/4S because I didn't like the form factor, shape, design, really anything about it. I thought and still think the iPhone 4 is a bad design.

I moved to the Galaxy S2 (and then S3), which I have used consistently for 2 years - I thought it was good. I convinced myself it was superior to the Apple iPhone. I have been telling people - evangelising even - that Apple was over. That the iOS was dated and inferior to Android. A little background about me - I used to be a software engineer by trade. I'm not completely technologically illiterate basically.

My thoughts, having gotten an iphone 5 again recently. It is simply superior in every way to Android (Samsung flavours). Android OS is overly engineered and overly complicated. I think the UI design is just poor. It's too busy.

Samsung phones are significantly worse in build quality - so much so that it is incomparable.

My Samsung phones came stuff full of crap akin to Windows PCs of the late 2000's. 'Samsung app store' 'Samsung social network' 'Media Centre' etc etc tons of junk you don't want and don't need. It's like having 'news stand' 100 times over. And you can't delete it. It's like having AOL on your computer and being unable to remove it.

The apple support is second to none. I missed this especially. If something goes wrong with a Samsung phone - good luck. Post it off? Contact your cell provider? With apple - go to the shop. They will just replace it (in my experience, this may have changed recently?).

Yes there are bad points - apple accessories are over-priced. Yes, the company has a walled garden ecosystem. But in my opinion, the iPhone is the best phone on the market.

The screen dimensions of the iPhone 5 are perfect for me. I love the shape of the phone and will be disappointed if they follow akin to the S3/S4/Note style that in my opinion is far far too big for a portable device.

There may be reasons to get an android device. Perhaps I am not in their target demographic - I call, send messages & emails, use the internet and listen to music. That is all - and for that set of purposes iPhone is unbeatable.

Cheers.

Scratch4 · Apr 20, 2013

randomtask said:
I left the Apple phone eco-sphere after I changed from iPhone 3GS to a Samsung galaxy s2, back in early 2011. I decided against an iPhone 4/4S because I didn't like the form factor, shape, design, really anything about it. I thought and still think the iPhone 4 is a bad design.

I moved to the Galaxy S2 (and then S3), which I have used consistently for 2 years - I thought it was good. I convinced myself it was superior to the Apple iPhone. I have been telling people - evangelising even - that Apple was over. That the iOS was dated and inferior to Android. A little background about me - I used to be a software engineer by trade. I'm not completely technologically illiterate basically.

My thoughts, having gotten an iphone 5 again recently. It is simply superior in every way to Android (Samsung flavours). Android OS is overly engineered and overly complicated. I think the UI design is just poor. It's too busy.

Samsung phones are significantly worse in build quality - so much so that it is incomparable.

My Samsung phones came stuff full of crap akin to Windows PCs of the late 2000's. 'Samsung app store' 'Samsung social network' 'Media Centre' etc etc tons of junk you don't want and don't need. It's like having 'news stand' 100 times over. And you can't delete it. It's like having AOL on your computer and being unable to remove it.

The apple support is second to none. I missed this especially. If something goes wrong with a Samsung phone - good luck. Post it off? Contact your cell provider? With apple - go to the shop. They will just replace it (in my experience, this may have changed recently?).

Yes there are bad points - apple accessories are over-priced. Yes, the company has a walled garden ecosystem. But in my opinion, the iPhone is the best phone on the market.

The screen dimensions of the iPhone 5 are perfect for me. I love the shape of the phone and will be disappointed if they follow akin to the S3/S4/Note style that in my opinion is far far too big for a portable device.

There may be reasons to get an android device. Perhaps I am not in their target demographic - I call, send messages & emails, use the internet and listen to music. That is all - and for that set of purposes iPhone is unbeatable.

Cheers.

Glad to see this post. I'm in a very similar situation... traded in my iPhone 3G for a Droid back in the day. I <3 and still <3 Google services much more than others, but for the reasons you stated above are the reasons I will be switching to the next iPhone.

elitewebdesign · Apr 20, 2013

This is like my situation but kind of the opposite. I'm thinking of getting the Samsung Galaxy S4 but I just love how IOS is perfectly built although it may be a tad boring now.

whitlecj · Apr 20, 2013

randomtask said:
I left the Apple phone eco-sphere after I changed from iPhone 3GS to a Samsung galaxy s2, back in early 2011. I decided against an iPhone 4/4S because I didn't like the form factor, shape, design, really anything about it. I thought and still think the iPhone 4 is a bad design.

I moved to the Galaxy S2 (and then S3), which I have used consistently for 2 years - I thought it was good. I convinced myself it was superior to the Apple iPhone. I have been telling people - evangelising even - that Apple was over. That the iOS was dated and inferior to Android. A little background about me - I used to be a software engineer by trade. I'm not completely technologically illiterate basically.

My thoughts, having gotten an iphone 5 again recently. It is simply superior in every way to Android (Samsung flavours). Android OS is overly engineered and overly complicated. I think the UI design is just poor. It's too busy.

Samsung phones are significantly worse in build quality - so much so that it is incomparable.

My Samsung phones came stuff full of crap akin to Windows PCs of the late 2000's. 'Samsung app store' 'Samsung social network' 'Media Centre' etc etc tons of junk you don't want and don't need. It's like having 'news stand' 100 times over. And you can't delete it. It's like having AOL on your computer and being unable to remove it.

The apple support is second to none. I missed this especially. If something goes wrong with a Samsung phone - good luck. Post it off? Contact your cell provider? With apple - go to the shop. They will just replace it (in my experience, this may have changed recently?).

Yes there are bad points - apple accessories are over-priced. Yes, the company has a walled garden ecosystem. But in my opinion, the iPhone is the best phone on the market.

The screen dimensions of the iPhone 5 are perfect for me. I love the shape of the phone and will be disappointed if they follow akin to the S3/S4/Note style that in my opinion is far far too big for a portable device.

There may be reasons to get an android device. Perhaps I am not in their target demographic - I call, send messages & emails, use the internet and listen to music. That is all - and for that set of purposes iPhone is unbeatable.

Cheers.

I was in a very similar situation. I left iOS after the iphone 4 and went to various android devices including the S3 and Note 2 recently. I enjoyed rooting and custom roms. Much like you I beat the Android drum to everyone. Well fast forward to last week and work wanted me to get back on the iPhone as it is our company standard. Got my iPhone 5 on Tuesday. Got lucky that it had 6.1.2 on it so I was able to jailbreak. I have to say, this is the best phone I have ever owned. I miss the larger screens a bit from the droids but you just can't beat the quality of the phones and the software is where iOS really shines in my opinion. There is also no comparison between the quality of the 3rd party apps. I thought the android apps were just as good, but after using the iOS versions for a few days, I was wrong.

cdmoore74 · Apr 20, 2013

You will never rip the Note 2 from my cold dead hands. Using my wife's iPhone 5 for about 10 minutes gives me large screen withdrawal pains.
The iPhone has it's place. My wife does not care about large screens, customizations, specs, removable batteries and sd cards. She likes it because apps are pretty and the interface is simple. I noticed that Apple users have basic requirements and this will be the reason why iOS 7 will not deviate from previous versions. The majority of Apple's target audience do not want to have a complex OS. I see Apple only dealing in pretty and simple. Just look at the camera app vs Samsungs/HTC's camera app; simple vs features.
My wife will most likely stay with Apple while I will stay with Android. As a hardcore Android user I did not have to bash Apple here. I would recommend Apple to anyone I see not having the tech skill or the need for a larger screen. I love driving stick-shift cars and motorcycles while others like automatics and scooters. I wouldn't recommend a stick shift or motorcycle to my wife. And I wouldn't recommend Android to everyone.

Ste Nova · Apr 20, 2013

cdmoore74 said:
You will never rip the Note 2 from my cold dead hands. Using my wife's iPhone 5 for about 10 minutes gives me large screen withdrawal pains.

use her iPad instead

----------

cdmoore74 said:
I would recommend Apple to anyone I see not having the tech skill or the need for a larger screen. I love driving stick-shift cars and motorcycles while others like automatics and scooters. I wouldn't recommend a stick shift or motorcycle to my wife. And I wouldn't recommend Android to everyone.

i work with tech all day so i won't want to tinker under the bonnet of my own equipment in my own time....

on the other hand my daily driver is an auto and my toy is stick... ahh yes because cars are fun

Random 995K · Apr 20, 2013

elitewebdesign said:
This is like my situation but kind of the opposite. I'm thinking of getting the Samsung Galaxy S4 but I just love how IOS is perfectly built although it may be a tad boring now.

Hopefully you can see that everything gets "boring" after a while. At the end of the day your left without all the gimmicky stuff and cool animations and just want performance, customer service and build quality. That's my view at least.

cdmoore74 · Apr 20, 2013

Ste Nova said:
use her iPad instead

Pretty difficult to fit a iPad in your pocket even if the mini is 8 inches. Imagine if Apple released a 5.5" iPhone/iPad hybrid that would work with both iPhone and iPad apps. It would bring Android to it's knee's and stocks would double in days. But Apple wants you to buy a 4" iPhone and a iPad. But instead people like me will just buy large screen phones and phablets. I wonder how many people would buy a 5.5" to 6" Apple phablet if it was made for iPad apps in mind? The...world...will...never...know because of Apple; not customers making the decision to buy or not buy. The Note 2 exist today because people bought the first Note. Note 3 will exist because people bought Note 2.

The iPad is a dying idea and Tim Cook has nothing to replace it with except for a yearly revision. The market is flooded with millions of these devices. My wife still uses her 1st gen and is confirmation that Apple products do last. It's a catch 22; why upgrade if it just works?

randomtask · Apr 20, 2013

whitlecj said:
I was in a very similar situation. I left iOS after the iphone 4 and went to various android devices including the S3 and Note 2 recently. I enjoyed rooting and custom roms. Much like you I beat the Android drum to everyone. Well fast forward to last week and work wanted me to get back on the iPhone as it is our company standard. Got my iPhone 5 on Tuesday. Got lucky that it had 6.1.2 on it so I was able to jailbreak. I have to say, this is the best phone I have ever owned. I miss the larger screens a bit from the droids but you just can't beat the quality of the phones and the software is where iOS really shines in my opinion. There is also no comparison between the quality of the 3rd party apps. I thought the android apps were just as good, but after using the iOS versions for a few days, I was wrong.

Other than the larger screen, what is it specifically that you feel is missing from iphone?

kevroc · Apr 20, 2013

randomtask said:
I left the Apple phone eco-sphere after I changed from iPhone 3GS to a Samsung galaxy s2, back in early 2011. I decided against an iPhone 4/4S because I didn't like the form factor, shape, design, really anything about it. I thought and still think the iPhone 4 is a bad design.

I moved to the Galaxy S2 (and then S3), which I have used consistently for 2 years - I thought it was good. I convinced myself it was superior to the Apple iPhone. I have been telling people - evangelising even - that Apple was over. That the iOS was dated and inferior to Android. A little background about me - I used to be a software engineer by trade. I'm not completely technologically illiterate basically.

My thoughts, having gotten an iphone 5 again recently. It is simply superior in every way to Android (Samsung flavours). Android OS is overly engineered and overly complicated. I think the UI design is just poor. It's too busy.

Samsung phones are significantly worse in build quality - so much so that it is incomparable.

My Samsung phones came stuff full of crap akin to Windows PCs of the late 2000's. 'Samsung app store' 'Samsung social network' 'Media Centre' etc etc tons of junk you don't want and don't need. It's like having 'news stand' 100 times over. And you can't delete it. It's like having AOL on your computer and being unable to remove it.

The apple support is second to none. I missed this especially. If something goes wrong with a Samsung phone - good luck. Post it off? Contact your cell provider? With apple - go to the shop. They will just replace it (in my experience, this may have changed recently?).

Yes there are bad points - apple accessories are over-priced. Yes, the company has a walled garden ecosystem. But in my opinion, the iPhone is the best phone on the market.

The screen dimensions of the iPhone 5 are perfect for me. I love the shape of the phone and will be disappointed if they follow akin to the S3/S4/Note style that in my opinion is far far too big for a portable device.

There may be reasons to get an android device. Perhaps I am not in their target demographic - I call, send messages & emails, use the internet and listen to music. That is all - and for that set of purposes iPhone is unbeatable.

Cheers.

So what you're saying is that you've been wrong the for the last 2 years?

And the fact that you're a software engineer yet didn't see the flaws in the Android design; Bloatware, OS Fragmentation and Apps as compared to IOS? You didn't see the advantages of having updates directly from the manufacturer as opposed to going through carrier approval?

You only need to call, message, use internet and music, yet the "form factor" of the iPhone 4 turned you off, even though it did all of those things just as well or better? If you were a hardware engineer you would appreciate the design of the iPhone 4. It is easily a classic piece of hardware.

I hate to tell you this, but you are exactly the demographic they target.

eyoungren · Apr 20, 2013

kevroc said:
you would appreciate the design of the iPhone 4. It is easily a classic piece of hardware.

The iPhone 4 is short, fat and ugly. Especially when you add in a bumper and/or case. You get one of those Defender cases and you have a plastic brick that bears no resemblance to any product that Apple makes.

That is just my opinion.

I have a 3GS which was given to me, and I preordered an iPhone 5 and got it on launch day. I could have got a 4 or 4S on Sprint (my carrier) when they originally came out, but seeing how fugly they were compared to a 3GS I waited for the iPhone 5 and hoped it would be a better redesign. It was and I love my iPhone 5. I know plenty of people with the iPhone 4 and I just can't believe how ugly the device is. Again, just my opinion.

I come from a Windows Mobile background, but I own lots of Macs and have a few iDevices, so I'm no Apple hater. However, I refuse to drink the Apple koolaid. Apple makes some ugly devices some times and the iPhone 4/4S was one of them.

Not my idea of a classic (let alone classy) iPhone

Mrbobb · Apr 20, 2013

randomtask said:
My thoughts, having gotten an iphone 5 again recently. It is simply superior in every way to Android (Samsung flavours). Android OS is overly engineered and overly complicated. I think the UI design is just poor. It's too busy.

Translation: Am too old for all these "features" I rarely use. I just want something that "just works."

Am engineer too and somethings just need to be easy to use tools, there's so many hours in the day and after u play with these "features" a couple of times, it's no big deal.

barkomatic · Apr 20, 2013

eyoungren said:
The iPhone 4 is short, fat and ugly. Especially when you add in a bumper and/or case. You get one of those Defender cases and you have a plastic brick that bears no resemblance to any product that Apple makes.

That is just my opinion.

I have a 3GS which was given to me, and I preordered an iPhone 5 and got it on launch day. I could have got a 4 or 4S on Sprint (my carrier) when they originally came out, but seeing how fugly they were compared to a 3GS I waited for the iPhone 5 and hoped it would be a better redesign. It was and I love my iPhone 5. I know plenty of people with the iPhone 4 and I just can't believe how ugly the device is. Again, just my opinion.

I come from a Windows Mobile background, but I own lots of Macs and have a few iDevices, so I'm no Apple hater. However, I refuse to drink the Apple koolaid. Apple makes some ugly devices some times and the iPhone 4/4S was one of them.

I always felt that the iPhone 5 looks likes a stretched out iPhone 4 that's also a little thinner -- so it's interesting you hate one but not the other. Nevertheless, glad you're happy with your current choice.

eyoungren · Apr 20, 2013

barkomatic said:
I always felt that the iPhone 5 looks likes a stretched out iPhone 4 that's also a little thinner -- so it's interesting you hate one but not the other. Nevertheless, glad you're happy with your current choice.

I am happy with it. It's solid black and the screen goes almost to the very thin edges. The iPhone 4/4S has that chrome bezel all the way around. Then a lot of people had the really bad habit of getting neon colored bumpersand sorry, that just ruined any good looks the phone may have had. Of course the 3GS also had a chrome bezel, but I like the shape of the 3GS better than the 4/4S. The back of the iPhone 4/4S is rather garish with it's chrome type and the chrome surround around the camera). I can't pin it on any single feature, but it's just not attractive to me. Possibly if Apple had done the iPhone 4/4S accented like the iPhone 5 I might like it better.

The iPhone 5 has that black 2001 (the movie) monolith thing going (don't get me started on the white iPhone 5, ugh!) and that really attracts me. Maybe it's the fact that I like black and the iPhone 5 has varying shades of it.

DesertEagle · Apr 20, 2013

Thanks for info, OP, I'm even more convinced now to not switch to Samsung. Bloatware and lousy build quality is worse than the lack of large display IMO. But if I didn't have an iPad, perhaps I would see it differently.

Prime85 · Apr 20, 2013

elitewebdesign said:
This is like my situation but kind of the opposite. I'm thinking of getting the Samsung Galaxy S4 but I just love how IOS is perfectly built although it may be a tad boring now.

Tad boring? Its an OS! They arnt ment to be "fun" just practical. Anyway after switching from the S3 i realized all those "features" are completely useless. Same with widgets.

Willdr1991 · Apr 20, 2013

Yes.

Im so glad to see this thread up as i'm currently feeling the same way as the OP except i dont have an iphone yet(going to wait for the 5S at this point), i have my GS3 still. i was strictly an ios user back then from the 3GS to the 4 and then the 4S. When i had the 4S i got EXTREMELY bored with ios although it was reliable and worked.

SO i decided to jump ship to android last year and get the GS3. Ive loved this phone and got to the point where i would tell everyone to get android phones and would never imagine me getting an iphone again. That is, until after 9 months with the S3, ive had many problems with the phone sometimes it would work great and sometimes not. I would customize it with different launchers and icon themes and download many apps and widgets, you name it. Found it to be a lot of fun but now i realize i'm bored with my phone as well. I find myself spending too much time on trying to make it work and customizing and changing things around, maintenance with the Ram and multitasking. Force closing my messaging apps, and ive installed them all. For the most part they work but many times even more frequently now, i get freeze ups, touch screen stops responding. i try to open the apps and they start loading, and loading and then slow to respond. i feel like i cant be productive and yes i know that putting custom roms and rooting my phone would probably fix that,but at this point in time i just want a reliable, productive, speedy, phone that i can just use and can get all the latest well designed apps first(an issue on android). Once the novelty of customizing and spending hours on changing up the look of your phone wears off, nothing satisfies you and then youre left with an unreliable phone that annoys you whenever you want to get something done.

just in case any android users read this, i am on Jellybean 4.1.2 (with ProjectButter) and overall the UI is fast and smoother than in icecream sandwich but it is not quite there yet. more refining needs to be done and stability of the android OS needs to be improved. The Apps are generally badly written even top name ones are just ports from IOS.

DesertEagle · Apr 20, 2013

Prime85 said:
Tad boring? Its an OS! They arnt ment to be "fun" just practical.

The same can be said about mobile phones in general, don't you think?

Prime85 · Apr 20, 2013

DesertEagle said:
The same can be said about mobile phones in general, don't you think?

I agree 100%. Personally i believe an OS is not meant to be "Fun" just practical.

The main reason i stick with iOS is because of it being so smooth. I switched from the S3 because of all the problems i was having with the OS. They can add whatever they like to iOS7 or Key Lime Pie, personally i think everything will just be gimmicks for both. Just give me a nice fluid OS that doesn't lag and i am happy.

If i want to have fun i will download a game.

randomtask · Apr 20, 2013

kevroc said:
I hate to tell you this, but you are exactly the demographic they target.

You may be right. You don't have to hate to tell it to me though, it's neither offensive or unexpected!

I remember being a young boy and not being able to understand my dads (a software engineer) lack of desire to tinker with software at home. He was impatient with poorly functioning interfaces and software. How life has gone full circle..! (except I left coding behind..)

asleep · Apr 20, 2013

kevroc said:
So what you're saying is that you've been wrong the for the last 2 years?

And the fact that you're a software engineer yet didn't see the flaws in the Android design; Bloatware, OS Fragmentation and Apps as compared to IOS? You didn't see the advantages of having updates directly from the manufacturer as opposed to going through carrier approval?

You only need to call, message, use internet and music, yet the "form factor" of the iPhone 4 turned you off, even though it did all of those things just as well or better? If you were a hardware engineer you would appreciate the design of the iPhone 4. It is easily a classic piece of hardware.

I hate to tell you this, but you are exactly the demographic they target.

Somebody feels cheated on.

Fattytail · Apr 20, 2013

I never understood all the talk about iOS getting boring. You use the apps on a phone, the operating system only serves as a platform to run those apps. Unless, of course, customizing wallpapers every half-day or wasting time browsing through widgets saves you from boredom.

The problem with these huge Android phones is that they're too big. No one can say that it's not a ridiculous pain to use those phones one handed. I have an S3 and a Note 2 (yes, I know), and neither got used for more than three weeks. I had to fumble with the phone everytime I wanted to use it. The large screen was nice, but I found that it wasn't big enough in many cases, which sort of minimized the utility of the larger screen. I think Apple realizes this which is why they didnt make the jump to a bigger screen on the iPhone 5. Now, clearly there's still some sort of a market for a bigger phone, so maybe Apple will offer more than one size in the future.

erio8 · Apr 20, 2013

I felt the same way after having used HTC One for only a day. It was too "busy" and overly engineered. The cons far outweighed the pros.

Here is a link to my thread discussing why I returned the phone: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1572825/

The android fans complain that I didn't give the phone enough time or that the phone is too "advanced" for some users. That's not the issue at all. Having more flexibility with the OS is great, but if you don't make the basic features (phone, email, voicemail, etc) user friendly then all those overly complicated fancy features mean nothing. The phone was way too finicky. I need my phone to be more practical. I plan on upgrading from the iphone 4 to 5s.

Fouracre44 · Apr 20, 2013

I agree. I started off originally with the iphone 3gs, then to the 4, and then decided that I would try a HTC one XL, after convincing myself I needed my phone to be everything except a phone. Android is great, don't get me wrong, it certainly appeals to a certain type of person, and apart from it's fragmentation of it's os, it's definitely evolving and it's GREAT for tablet devices.

What drew me back to IOS and now the iphone 5 was the OS. I love tweaking things, and I have built my own server, gaming & video editing pc's at home and I love technology, but I also love easy to use, simple & fluid software.

I use my phone in my job everyday, I use it as a TOOL to get things done easily, not to say I don't play the occasional game of temple run and fifa but I still use it first and foremost to call, text, email & bank. The iphone os is stable, solid & still kicks ass. It doesn't have the frivolous design of the android devices and I accomplish much more, faster with my iphone.

I just got a nice big case for it, and it allows me to have a durable, sturdy phone & enjoy the benefits of the simple, fluid iOS operating system. I think for me personally, I enjoy a simple experience on my phone, I don't want to overclock my phone, nor rom it, or root it or even " jail break it " at the moment, I'm quite happy with using the 4g network, and just enjoying the phone as a phone but also having a cool little apps and stuff to do. It truly is a great device. I didn't have a level the other day in my job, so I used one of my apps, worked great

moldy lunchbox · Apr 20, 2013

I have both..i keep my sim card in the iPhone tho (;

My thoughts on returning to iPhone.

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