Android users that upgraded to iPhone 5. What's your impressions?

[cdmoore74]

I don't want this to turn into a fanboy war. Only from Android users that just upgraded.

I have a Nexus but I wanted to upgrade my wife from her iPhone 4 as a birthday present which is not until mid October. Thought that this would be a good time to test it out for a month to see if the new model changes my mind. After maybe 3 hours of hands on I'm just not "overly" impressed and here are my reasons why.

1. Screen size is still too small. Navigating on the internet still feels so cramped.

2. Little to no control in customization. You have App Icons and folders on a various number of screens behind wallpaper and that's it. The pull down menu is a cheap knockoff.

3. The maps app is a complete joke. It looks as if your navigating in space. The goofy nav app even told me to turn right on a straight road. I then used my Nexus side by side and it appears that the maps are years apart.

4. The one thing I dislike is that only one app I love (flipbook) has been updated (as of this morning) to take advantage of the screen size. Instead of hardware fragmentation you have App fragmentation.

5. And last but not least I can't use the device one handed with a inciprio case on it. I still need two hands which defeats the purpose of going with a smaller device.

Now don't get me wrong. The iPhone is fast at general navigation, the app store will eventually catch up to the screen size, the case selection on day one was actually decent compared to any android device and the overall build quality is decent except for one manufacturing issue called "metal flashing" on the rear antenna band. The camera is fast, low light performance is very good and the pictures look great compared to my Nexus (that's one spot where the iPhone kills my Nexus). And that's really it. If I could take the camera out of the iPhone and slap it into my Nexus I would be happy.

The iPhone is a keeper but only for my wife. She will be very happy with the upgrade. I got her an Android device last year and she only had complaints. I swapped the Android phone for an iPhone 4 and no issues at all. But for me I have my targets set on a Galaxy Note 2. I ultimately can't live with the small screen for the time it takes Apple to upgrade the size again.

 

[onthecouchagain]

I think Josh Topolsky's review at The Verge of the iPhone 5 will gives the best answer regarding iPhone versus Nexus. He hits the nail on the head in the 'Software' section of his review. I highlight some of the more poignant points:


"Apple is still making users jump through hoops to perform simple tasks, like switching to a private browsing window or clearing the cache in Safari. It takes no less than six button presses and home key taps to make that happen while browsing.

Multitasking remains a black box, not representing app states and forcing what should be "always on" applications like IM clients into a constant state of shutdown warnings.... It sounds minor, but when taken as a whole and spread across multiple applications, it makes the OS feel claustrophobic, mysterious, and downright unhelpful at times.

I must mention this — the fact that the weather icon continues to read 73 degrees and sunny when it is clearly possible to have icons update with at least some information (see the calendar icon) is now laughable at best, and sad at worst.

Don't get me wrong, iOS is a beautiful and well-structured mobile operating system — but it's begun to show its age. It feels less useful to me today than it did a couple of years ago, especially in the face of increasingly sophisticated competition. I always have this sense now in iOS of not knowing where I am, what my status is — constantly having to load things and reload them. It feels tiring.

Maybe you'll call me an Android fanboy for saying this, or maybe it's because much of my business utilizes Google apps and its communication tools, but it didn't take me very long with the iPhone 5 to start thinking about getting back to the Galaxy Nexus and Jelly Bean (Android 4.1). For what I do, I think it's a more effective, more elegant, and more powerful OS right now. What it may lack in polish and consistency, it makes up for in power and flexibility."


Everyone should really read the review: http://www.theverge.com/2012/9/21/3363238/iphone-5-review

 

[Wrathwitch]

Sorry I didn't "upgrade" to the iP5. But I have to throw my 2c in.

I was hoping to be tempted by the iP5. I however, do not consider it an upgrade at all. In fact, I am currently telling my mom NOT to update the iOS on her iP4 to iOS6. For these reasons:

1) she liked the idea of having a map she can use on her FIRST smartphone if she is downtown and needs directions somewhere. iOS6 has demonstrated that this is not a reliable map.

2) Other than the BS share photostream and VIP emails, there are no decent features available to the iP4.

I haven't even updated my ipad3 to the new OS because periodically I like to look up stuff with the maps app that already exists. I don't care about Siri, I don't talk to my iPad so this is a non issue. I would dl it for the new clock feature, but a friend of mine tells me there are plenty of great apps out there that I can use for that feature.

No, the iP5 is NOT an upgrade in any way, form, or factor. Hell, they can't even deliver phones that aren't physically damaged out of the box if all of the forums are to be believed.

Android may not be the end all, be all, but it will still serve me well until in MY opinion, Apple gets it right. What I would have wanted would be a minimum of 4.3" screen. 4.5" would be dreamy. A chassis that doesn't come pre-damaged. A map app that I can RELY on.

Maybe in a year or two.

 

[METC]

My new 32GB Black iPhone 5 should arrive on the 28th, but I am upgrading from an HTC Evo 4G on Sprint. I can't wait to be rid of this paperweight that only lasts me 5 hours battery life tops because of android's terrible power management and lack of a way to manage background apps. I also can't wait to be under a unified platform.

I'll post impressions when it arrives, or edit this if I have the ability to on these forums.

edit: oh hey I guess I can edit so that works.

 

[sentinelsx]

As for the verge review, Josh is in love with his nexus so some of the stuff he says translates to "oh how i wish jellybean was on iPhone 5 already".

He overlooked push notifications. His IM client dies so soon? How come i could get ebuddy push IM messages after days of inactivity and his IM client dies? He didn't even try loading a photo through safari to tumblr and just claimed it was not possible. What?

Not to mention the hoops you have go through to get stock android on a flagship device like the S3 and One X, or to shut down bloatware and unneeded notifications bugging you, bugs in custom ROMs (camera being the most profound), and yeah, android isn't perfect either.

He just wants every device to run android because in his mind it is the best. How can you think of objectivity?

Now don't get me wrong, iOS has to change sooner or later or APple will eventually feel the pain, but it doesn't have to it being a carbon copy of android. I am still sort of pissed over their notification copying, they could have used a better implementation but they went lazy. Ugh.

I am as bored with my S3 as i was with my iPhone 4. Allow iOS apps to talk to each other like android, and to me it all looks the same. It is a shame BB10 is so far away, because the playbook OS looks so fresh and i love using it. And microsoft is just dragging their lazy asses with windows phone.

I just hope RIM and MS get something out before we are locked into iOS and android duopoly forever. I feel like switching to my old BB already lol.

 

[onthecouchagain]

As for the verge review, Josh is in love with his nexus so some of the stuff he says translates to "oh how i wish jellybean was on iPhone 5 already".

He overlooked push notifications. His IM client dies so soon? How come i could get ebuddy push IM messages after days of inactivity and his IM client dies? He didn't even try loading a photo through safari to tumblr and just claimed it was not possible. What?

Not to mention the hoops you have go through to get stock android on a flagship device like the S3 and One X, or to shut down bloatware and unneeded notifications bugging you, bugs in custom ROMs (camera being the most profound), and yeah, android isn't perfect either.

He just wants every device to run android because in his mind it is the best. How can you think of objectivity?

Now don't get me wrong, iOS has to change sooner or later or APple will eventually feel the pain, but it doesn't have to it being a carbon copy of android. I am still sort of pissed over their notification copying, they could have used a better implementation but they went lazy. Ugh.

I am as bored with my S3 as i was with my iPhone 4. Allow iOS apps to talk to each other like android, and to me it all looks the same. It is a shame BB10 is so far away, because the playbook OS looks so fresh and i love using it. And microsoft is just dragging their lazy asses with windows phone.

I just hope RIM and MS get something out before we are locked into iOS and android duopoly forever. I feel like switching to my old BB already lol.

Zuh?

That's so not what Josh Topolsky is talking about. He, like many of us, want to see Apple make iOS a little more dynamic and advance; NOT be a carbon copy of Android. You're just injecting your own interpretations of his review. No one is saying Android is perfect (far from it!) nor is anyone advocating every device run Android (that'd be hell!).

And if having stock Android is that important to anyone who doesn't want to flash ROMs, that's what the Nexus line is all about. One device a year, guaranteed updates. Sound familiar, doesn't it?

 

[matttye]

I've defended Android to the death on here, but I got an iPhone 5 today and I freaking love it

Android can do so much more than iOS, but when I think about how much of that stuff I actually use, it's not a lot.

Main reasons for getting one: -

1. iMessage and shared photo streams. The mrs and I both use these a lot, so it's great to get them synced to my phone as well as my iPad now.
2. 64GB internal storage.
3. Will only have to buy apps once.
4. Siri is great for driving (which I do a lot of).
5. Screen size is more acceptable than 3.5" (the loss of .8" doesn't bother me at all).
6. Best app and music stores.

Giving the S3 to the mrs.

Still love Android, just feel that the iPhone is more suitable for me right now.

 

[sentinelsx]

Zuh?

That's so not what Josh Topolsky is talking about. He, like many of us, want to see Apple make iOS a little more dynamic and advance; NOT be a carbon copy of Android. You're just injecting your own interpretations of his review. No one is saying Android is perfect (far from it!) nor is anyone advocating every device run Android (that'd be hell!).

And if having stock Android is that important to anyone who doesn't want to flash ROMs, that's what the Nexus line is all about. One device a year, guaranteed updates. Sound familiar, doesn't it?

Well some of what he says does sound like that.

I also want to see iOS evolve too, and i have nothing against android. But there are some oversights that he had too. I just think Apple is probably losing steam and is content to start copying everything off android instead of making it from scratch (notification center, lol ... i would have preferred a meego style notifications page instead with action).

 

[matttye]

2) Other than the BS share photostream and VIP emails, there are no decent features available to the iP4.

Passbook will be decent when more apps support it. At the minute there's only four apps that support it in the UK, none of which I have any desire to use! It's all about airport travel and hotels.

 

[sentinelsx]

I've defended Android to the death on here, but I got an iPhone 5 today and I freaking love it

Android can do so much more than iOS, but when I think about how much of that stuff I actually use, it's not a lot.

Main reasons for getting one: -

1. iMessage and shared photo streams. The mrs and I both use these a lot, so it's great to get them synced to my phone as well as my iPad now.
2. 64GB internal storage.
3. Will only have to buy apps once.
4. Siri is great for driving (which I do a lot of).
5. Screen size is more acceptable than 3.5" (the loss of .8" doesn't bother me at all).
6. Best app and music stores.

Giving the S3 to the mrs.

Still love Android, just feel that the iPhone is more suitable for me right now.

My reason for getting an i5 is that once the jailbreak is out, i can load pwntunes, ifile, NC settings, zephyr and forget about the apple locks. I can use it like my S3 except i also get to enjoy the hardware and the much more comfortable size of the screen, although they should offer two sizes IMO, 4 and 4.3 or 4.5. Knowing APple this is a dream lol.

Oh how i would have loved a Blackberry london or HTC 8X if MS and RIM weren't stuck in medieval times. They have some of the laziest management and development teams from the looks of it. But i still want a product from them lol.

Also, qwerty hardware keyboards are awesome. Used my co workers bb9900 yesterday and it beats every virtual keyboard i have used to date, including the iPhone's, swiftkey, and others. Typing an email was bliss on it.

 

[vistadude]

It's a great phone, just not a compelling upgrade for anyone with an iphone 4 or 4s. And the maps are terrible.

iOS is well polished, but it hardly changes at all each year. It gets boring. It's like a honda car, works great for a long time but gets boring to drive. Nothing changes except for a slight tweak in the design.

Power users get bored because you can't tweak the software and the interface is the same. Some tasks take too long, like clearing cookies in safari.

 

[THE JUICEMAN]

I think Josh Topolsky's review at The Verge of the iPhone 5 will gives the best answer regarding iPhone versus Nexus. He hits the nail on the head in the 'Software' section of his review. I highlight some of the more poignant points:


"Apple is still making users jump through hoops to perform simple tasks, like switching to a private browsing window or clearing the cache in Safari. It takes no less than six button presses and home key taps to make that happen while browsing.

Multitasking remains a black box, not representing app states and forcing what should be "always on" applications like IM clients into a constant state of shutdown warnings.... It sounds minor, but when taken as a whole and spread across multiple applications, it makes the OS feel claustrophobic, mysterious, and downright unhelpful at times.

I must mention this — the fact that the weather icon continues to read 73 degrees and sunny when it is clearly possible to have icons update with at least some information (see the calendar icon) is now laughable at best, and sad at worst.

Don't get me wrong, iOS is a beautiful and well-structured mobile operating system — but it's begun to show its age. It feels less useful to me today than it did a couple of years ago, especially in the face of increasingly sophisticated competition. I always have this sense now in iOS of not knowing where I am, what my status is — constantly having to load things and reload them. It feels tiring.

Maybe you'll call me an Android fanboy for saying this, or maybe it's because much of my business utilizes Google apps and its communication tools, but it didn't take me very long with the iPhone 5 to start thinking about getting back to the Galaxy Nexus and Jelly Bean (Android 4.1). For what I do, I think it's a more effective, more elegant, and more powerful OS right now. What it may lack in polish and consistency, it makes up for in power and flexibility."


Everyone should really read the review: http://www.theverge.com/2012/9/21/3363238/iphone-5-review

I think it's important to know that no TOO long ago Josh Topolsky was considered a big Apple fan boy and people ragged on him constantly for giving iOS devices so much praise. It is interesting how the times have changed. I am kind of agreeing with his review a lot.

 

[BoxerGT2.5]

I think it's important to know that no TOO long ago Josh Topolsky was considered a big Apple fan boy and people ragged on him constantly for giving iOS devices so much praise. It is interesting how the times have changed. I am kind of agreeing with his review a lot.

I think almost everyone can agree that android has caught up and surpassed Apple. No longer do the folks in Cupertino set the bar. Apple refuses to take any chances, unless you call a turd of a maps app a chance.

 

[intervenient]

I thought Topolsky's review was extremely fair. It's a great phone, and iOS is really smooth and fun, but it's not the pinnacle of innovation anymore.


I got my 5 out of curiosity. I still haven't decided if I want to keep it yet, or just wait for the new Nexus devices. Some things:

• 
  I hated the screen on my Galaxy Nexus, and the iPhone 5 blows it away. I don't like super massive screens, and I feel like the 4 inch iPhone 5 screen is the perfect medium. Although if they did make it a teeeeeny bit wider, I think it'd be the best screen on the market. Colors pop, and text looks fantastic.

• If you sincerely love Android, please stop saying that Apple ripped Android notifications: they didn't. iOS notifications are not very good at all. The biggest problem is that I have to swipe down to see what I missed, instead of just glancing and looking at icons. This might seem like "Well stop being lazy and just do it", but it's more complicated than that. Say you have an open app, you step away from your phone for a few seconds, and you get back to what you're doing. Your first thought isn't "Oh I should check for notifications", so you could go on for minutes, even hours, not knowing that you missed something. The banners are also kind of dumb, just lingering there, and you can't do anything about it. And the LED light....oh the LED light.

• I thought I'd miss Google integration a lot more than I do. I only use Gmail, Calendar, and Docs, and these work fine enough on the iPhone 5 for my usages. I know a lot of people hate the stock mail app, but I really can't find anything wrong with it for me.

• Apple should beg Google and get licenses for the back, and multitasking button. Yes, Apple has their own way of doing things, but Google's is much, much better. I want to bring up the multitasking bar, and see what I was last doing on that app. That's useful.

• Apple needs a mute option. I like Android's "Sound, Vibration, and Mute" functionality. It makes sense. I don't like having to navigate through menus to completely silence my phone.

• The only other little qualm I have with the iPhone 5 is the keyboard is both a little cramped, and the period key is not on the QWERTY section of the keyboard. A period should not take two taps to use, it should be one, like on Android. I wish it would vibrate too on tap, which I didn't think would be something I'd miss so much.

• A knock on Android: I love that all the iOS icons are the same size, at the same level. It's just an ugly experience on Android seeing apps that are leveled differently, or one that is much bigger than it's neighbor (download Get Focused, and Lose It! and put them next to each other. Yuck).

Everything else though, I have to say, is done much better on the iPhone 5. Podcasts and music being able to be accessed on the lock screen and on the music bar when double tasking is huge for me. Apps that are cross platform for both iOS and Android, 9/10 look and feel much better on iOS. And the camera is amazing. And games. Oh my God have I missed iOS games.

The things Android does well, it does REALLY well, but it's a pretty meh experience outside of that. The iPhone 5 does everything really well and consistent, even if it doesn't do anything particularly amazing. So where Apple has the advantage as of now is in the hardware. If Google makes a flagship Nexus device with a decent camera, and a 4.3ish screen, I can't say that I'd stick around with it too much longer.

 

[onthecouchagain]

I think it's important to know that no TOO long ago Josh Topolsky was considered a big Apple fan boy and people ragged on him constantly for giving iOS devices so much praise. It is interesting how the times have changed. I am kind of agreeing with his review a lot.

Precisely why I refer to it so often. And precisely why I hope Apple is listening.

His whole review is actually really good, not just the Software section. In short, he says this is obviously the best iPhone, but recognizes it's not the best smartphone.

 

[KPOM]

Precisely why I refer to it so often. And precisely why I hope Apple is listening.

His whole review is actually really good, not just the Software section. In short, he says this is obviously the best iPhone, but recognizes it's not the best smartphone.

Nevertheless, he still rates it slightly higher than the Galaxy S3 and HTC One X. I think he thinks it isn't the best smartphone for him, but that it is the best smartphone for a lot of people.

 

[onthecouchagain]

Apple refuses to take any chances, unless you call a turd of a maps app a chance.

Actually, Apple does. In their statement, they refer to Maps as innovative.

And I guess you could argue they did take a chance. And that chance blew up in their face. Maps is this generation's "Damn You iPhone Auto Correction."

 

[H00513R]

Upgraded from a Samsung Epic to the iPhone 5. One of my biggest reasons was to get into the same ecosystem since I'm all Mac everywhere else. The older I get, the less I want to play around with things like multiple email accounts just to accomplish easy tasks. I've been pleased with the syncing of iCloud, and the phone works just like my iPad. So if you've owned one of those, and like it, then the phone will be no surprise.

I've been able to find apps for everything I use on Android like Reeder for Google Reader. I'm surprised how well the keyboard works even though it's so freaking small! It feels like I'm tapping 3 letters but it gets the right one every time (I still miss Swype though!!!) The only other thing I've noticed is the lack of widgets which I used like Springpad and no Google Sky for iPhone! Love that app...

 

[batting1000]

I've defended Android to the death on here, but I got an iPhone 5 today and I freaking love it

Android can do so much more than iOS, but when I think about how much of that stuff I actually use, it's not a lot.

Main reasons for getting one: -

1. iMessage and shared photo streams. The mrs and I both use these a lot, so it's great to get them synced to my phone as well as my iPad now.
2. 64GB internal storage.
3. Will only have to buy apps once.
4. Siri is great for driving (which I do a lot of).
5. Screen size is more acceptable than 3.5" (the loss of .8" doesn't bother me at all).
6. Best app and music stores.

Giving the S3 to the mrs.

Still love Android, just feel that the iPhone is more suitable for me right now.

Ironic, because you spent most of your time bashing the thing...

 

[Calidude]

I'm a Galaxy Nexus user and I played with the iPhone 5 for a good while over this weekend:

The build quality is superb I gotta say. However, I think a lot of people will be annoyed at how bad it can feel in your hand, being so angular and all. This phone would look great in a museum but it needs to go in your hand first and this is not a hand-friendly phone shape-wise. I think new phones like the HTC 8X and the Nokia Lumia series are going more in the direction that phones should go for something that feels right in your hand.

The screen is still too tiny. I don't see much of a difference, really. Yes, the display quality is fantastic, but the lack of extra width just bothers me. Are people's hands that tiny that they still can't maneuver around a phone this thin? Do people really not want to do less zooming and quicker typing?

iOS6 is still nothing more than a Map "upgrade" with some fixes that only warrant a 5.5 release version. There's almost nothing that is more useful about it. You'd think that with all the money that Apple has, they'd invest it into making iOS act more like OSX instead of a heavily gimped version of OSX. There's so many things that could be improved upon that not even the most hardcore Applefan can deny that Apple is leaving out functionality on purpose at this point.

Overall, if I were a novice or intermediate computer user, I'd think the iPhone is a very worthy upgrade. However, I can't see anybody who has used a computer for more than 5 years honestly say that the iPhone 5 is at the point where it should be, functionality-wise, after 6 iterations of the product.

 

[Sensamic]

To me the main problem is iOS 6.

I can't see myself waiting another full year for a more exciting update.

IOS 6 is so so boring and useless as an update that it makes the iPhone 5 less interesting. And we don't know if IOS 7 will be any better. We all hope it will, but we also though IOS 6 was gonna be better.

I like the iPhone 5, but man... I don't think I could wait until next summer to get better software...

Actually, it's not until summer, since IOS is not released until the fall. So we are actually looking at waiting until next October to get hopefully a worthy update!

Sucks.

 

[matttye]

Ironic, because you spent most of your time bashing the thing...

Yep, I hadn't used the iPhone since the 1st gen and Android looks a lot better on paper

 

[Macist]

My first proper smartphone was an orginal HTC Desire which I took to Android 2.3 before getting the iPhone 4. Back then, getting the iPhone was brilliant - generally speaking a much fast, less laggy, fluid experience.

There were a few things that were annoying like having to plough through settings to do simple things like turn WIFI off but then a quick Jailbreak took care of this.

Looking at the SIII I can see Android has moved on but it's still mishmashy - kinda like desktop Linux vs. Mac OS X. It does the job but there's a lack of polish. The large form factor just wouldn't work for as I always have my phone in my jeans. In terms of raw features, though, Android has everything iOS does and more these days and I notice many cool iOS-only apps are now appearing on Android too. A couple of years ago I thought if someone said they liked Android more they must be a hacker-type or lying. Now I can see that millions genuinely prefer Android and that's cool.

But I'm not sure I could lose the ecosystem. I have quite a few great paid apps on the iPhone including things like Filemaker GO. I use my phone to control Apple TV and heavily use Airplay. Yes, I know there are Apps on Android that kinda let you integrate with Apple tech but, meh, life's too short.

I now see it a bit like Nikon vs. Canon. I use Canon cameras but sometimes covet particular Nikon models that have spec or features Canon doesn't - but all my lenses and other bits of gear are Canon. Things would have to get REALLY bad on the Canon side to make me switch.

I'll upgrade to an iPhone 5 or 5s when the time comes.

 

[ixodes]

I don't want this to turn into a fanboy war. Only from Android users that just upgraded.

I own both platforms and have for years, running each concurrently on it's own line.

It seems to me the word "upgrade" is tossed around rather casually. I simply don't see an iOS phone as an upgrade to Android, nor do I see Android as an upgrade to iOS. They are both very different.

In my case I happen to enjoy each of them nearly equally. There's an ebb and flow between the two depending on where we are in the cycle and what models I have. Sometimes there's more I like about Android, and other times there's more I like about Apple.

Having a choice, and taking advantage of what that does to keep one current via first hand use of each device is particularly satisfying. My SGS 3, is every bit as enjoyable as my iPhone 5.

I do have a personal preference at the moment but it's irrelevant as it's just that... personal.

If I had to choose just one... well that's not something I would do. I'm too heavily involved in technology and cannot imagine robbing myself of the experience and enjoyment each platform offers.

For those that prefer to run just one platform, the only phone for you is the one that YOU Like. It's as simple as that. No one else can choose or advise, there are far too many variables.

That's my take on it.

 

[daveathall]

I own both platforms and have for years, running each concurrently on it's own line.

It seems to me the word "upgrade" is tossed around rather casually. I simply don't see an iOS phone as an upgrade to Android, nor do I see Android as an upgrade to iOS. They are both very different.

In my case I happen to enjoy each of them nearly equally. There's an ebb and flow between the two depending on where we are in the cycle and what models I have. Sometimes there's more I like about Android, and other times there's more I like about Apple.

Having a choice, and taking advantage of what that does to keep one current via first hand use of each device is particularly satisfying. My SGS 3, is every bit as enjoyable as my iPhone 5.

I do have a personal preference at the moment but it's irrelevant as it's just that... personal.

If I had to choose just one... well that's not something I would do. I'm too heavily involved in technology and cannot imagine robbing myself of the experience and enjoyment each platform offers.

For those that prefer to run just one platform, the only phone for you is the one that YOU Like. It's as simple as that. No one else can choose or advise, there are far too many variables.

That's my take on it.

Excellent post.