So I have an iPhone 5 and a GS4, comparison time!

[TheRealCBONE]

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-Keyboard: I find iOS far better except for the exclusion of swype, iOS is much more accurate with my fat fingers. As for showing all the predicted words that would slow me down a ton, sitting there picking the right word when I could just type it out as fast, especially with how powerful iOS mistake recognition is, but maybe this is needed for how inaccurate the android keyboard is.

iOS has the worst predictive keyboard in existence. Apple should be ashamed that it's still so terrible. Swiftkey before you teach it from your texts, facebook, twitter or whatever is spooky. Afterwards, it's just about at "Holy crap! I sent an email to my wife nearly entirely with the spacebar!" Kii is almost as good, but not quite.

One of the other things that I've had forever on android that made me want to throw my iphone was the inability to setup 1-touch direct call/text/email for contacts on the home screen. Not to mention having no real control over the home screen. Never understood the allure of home screens that look like my mom's XP desktop from a zillion years ago, all bloated up with shortcuts for everything ever.

 

[The Game 161]

I love swift key so glad I downloaded it

 

[spinedoc77]

iOS has the worst predictive keyboard in existence. Apple should be ashamed that it's still so terrible. Swiftkey before you teach it from your texts, facebook, twitter or whatever is spooky. Afterwards, it's just about at "Holy crap! I sent an email to my wife nearly entirely with the spacebar!" Kii is almost as good, but not quite.

One of the other things that I've had forever on android that made me want to throw my iphone was the inability to setup 1-touch direct call/text/email for contacts on the home screen. Not to mention having no real control over the home screen. Never understood the allure of home screens that look like my mom's XP desktop from a zillion years ago, all bloated up with shortcuts for everything ever.

Apple's keyboard has always been pretty good for me, not perfect by any means, but pretty good. I had a lot of trouble with Android and predictability, but then again I'm coming from years of iOS and comparing it to 3 months with the Android keyboard, maybe 3 months wasn't enough for it to learn my habits. But besides the word prediction I just found myself making a ton of mistakes on the android keyboard, I'm not really sure why but I could never type very fast on it. With iOS for some reason I can fly on it and don't make many mistakes.

With that said, I did fall in love with swype, pretty incredible and powerful and iOS really really needs to license them. If you started a word wrong with swype y ou were kind of screwed though, you just had to make sure you started the word correctly.

In the end though I'm missing keyboard features less and less these days as I'm using the voice recognition more and more for things like text messaging, etc. It's pretty incredible on both iOS and Android.

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I mean I understand that most consumers are going to buy skinned android phones. That does not make android a system as a whole that lags. What should be said is Touchwiz lags not android. That is fine it you want say android has lag and is not as smooth, but just because a Samsung creates a phone with a ton of features that slow down android does not mean android is slow.

In those same carrier stores they also have iPhone 4's. Does that mean we need to compare them too? Cause if we did that then well then that iPhone really can't keep up.

Yeah I hear you. It's like saying that Windows is slow after you install programs on it, versus when it's a fresh installation. Android was kind of the same, Touchwiz ran almost flawlessly when I first got the phone, but as I used it and installed programs the lag began to creep up, same with my Nexus 7. Still, consumers won't know the difference and will blame the OS no matter what.

 

[Fanaticalism]

I guess my definition of intuitive is different. It takes me longer to navigate around on an iPhone than it does an Android based device. But out of the box for normal functions, both phones have a phone and messaging function that works the same. Once email accounts are setup, click on the icon and you go to your email. And then if you click and drag your icons into a folder, you have your short cuts set up.

This was the difference for me, as someone who has every iPhone and still have the i5. I can truly customize Android to conform to my needs.

As far as lag, all I had to do was root my S4 and freeze all the bloatware, buttery smooth now. Can't wait for the unlock to remove it entirely.

 

[bmac4]

Apple's keyboard has always been pretty good for me, not perfect by any means, but pretty good. I had a lot of trouble with Android and predictability, but then again I'm coming from years of iOS and comparing it to 3 months with the Android keyboard, maybe 3 months wasn't enough for it to learn my habits. But besides the word prediction I just found myself making a ton of mistakes on the android keyboard, I'm not really sure why but I could never type very fast on it. With iOS for some reason I can fly on it and don't make many mistakes.

With that said, I did fall in love with swype, pretty incredible and powerful and iOS really really needs to license them. If you started a word wrong with swype y ou were kind of screwed though, you just had to make sure you started the word correctly.

In the end though I'm missing keyboard features less and less these days as I'm using the voice recognition more and more for things like text messaging, etc. It's pretty incredible on both iOS and Android.

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Yeah I hear you. It's like saying that Windows is slow after you install programs on it, versus when it's a fresh installation. Android was kind of the same, Touchwiz ran almost flawlessly when I first got the phone, but as I used it and installed programs the lag began to creep up, same with my Nexus 7. Still, consumers won't know the difference and will blame the OS no matter what.

Yes which I think is unfair. Those same people download some app from the Apple appstore and it does not run right they say it is the iPhone. I just think if you are going to compare you should do it stock OS to stock OS. I think that is the only way that it is even.

 

[sentinelsx]

iOS has the worst predictive keyboard in existence. Apple should be ashamed that it's still so terrible. Swiftkey before you teach it from your texts, facebook, twitter or whatever is spooky. Afterwards, it's just about at "Holy crap! I sent an email to my wife nearly entirely with the spacebar!" Kii is almost as good, but not quite.

One of the other things that I've had forever on android that made me want to throw my iphone was the inability to setup 1-touch direct call/text/email for contacts on the home screen. Not to mention having no real control over the home screen. Never understood the allure of home screens that look like my mom's XP desktop from a zillion years ago, all bloated up with shortcuts for everything ever.

Funny, i set up all my android phones to have grids of icons on home screens. The only thing i do love is that i can put as many of them in any style, which is a plus on android IMO.

Apart from that, i tried widgets. After two months on my GS3, i found even though the widget was there, 99% of the time i was tapping the app instead. Then i figured that they were simply not my cup of tea. The whole idea of "information at a glance" didn't work for me as well for some reason.

 

[cynics]

I don't think it's fair to compare a jailbroke iPhone to anything considering its impossible again. What's that argument like, "Back when you COULD"? That time has come an gone.

It's also kind of silly for people to keep bringing up "the vast majority" considering the vast majority here aren't in that particular majority.

The best comparison of iOS to Android is going to be on the iPhone/iPad and the Nexus devices. If you must compare a manufacture skinned Android device then keep in mind its Apples fault there are no skinned iOS devices. This can be considered a good or a bad thing, personally I'm glad there are no skinned iOS devices.

 

[spinedoc77]

Yes which I think is unfair. Those same people download some app from the Apple appstore and it does not run right they say it is the iPhone. I just think if you are going to compare you should do it stock OS to stock OS. I think that is the only way that it is even.

Hehe, welcome to consumerville. People do and think some strange stuff, especially when it comes to technology.

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Funny, i set up all my android phones to have grids of icons on home screens. The only thing i do love is that i can put as many of them in any style, which is a plus on android IMO.

Apart from that, i tried widgets. After two months on my GS3, i found even though the widget was there, 99% of the time i was tapping the app instead. Then i figured that they were simply not my cup of tea. The whole idea of "information at a glance" didn't work for me as well for some reason.

Even though I moved back to iOS, I found Android live widgets were awesome and miss them a ton. I had live widgets for email, texts, Google Now, and some others. The information is priceless IMO. For emails and texts I loved seeing all my emails, you would scroll them right in the widget.

The BIG one for me was Google Now, for example it had a live widget/card for the traffic and delays for my commute to work and home. With just a glance I could see how early I had to leave, I really appreciated that feature. With iOS I have to look for the google app, tap it to open, and then scroll down and tap again on the card to see that information.

 

[bmac4]

Hehe, welcome to consumerville. People do and think some strange stuff, especially when it comes to technology.

I put not knowing anything about technology and buying an skinned android phone, and then saying it is not as smooth as iOS up there with the best of them. Yes of course the Touchwiz Samsung phone is going not going g to be as smooth. It is running almost double what the iPhone is running. I don't know maybe I know maybe I am too hard on people, but if you are going to come on a forum and complain about something. It would be nice if you knew a little something about what you are talking about first.

 

[spinedoc77]

I put not knowing anything about technology and buying an skinned android phone, and then saying it is not as smooth as iOS up there with the best of them. Yes of course the Touchwiz Samsung phone is going not going g to be as smooth. It is running almost double what the iPhone is running. I don't know maybe I know maybe I am too hard on people, but if you are going to come on a forum and complain about something. It would be nice if you knew a little something about what you are talking about first.

Nah, I still disagree with that, but it's just my opinion. How many Android phones have Jelly Bean? I mean you can blame lag on some phones that came before project butter, or whatever it was called when Google really got serious about lag. Or vice versa, it could be hardware, I had jelly bean 4.1.2 loaded on a Samsung captivate and it lags, but that's due to the old hardware.

If I'm getting a phone from a store completely stock I have no issues comparing it to a stock phone from another company. The vast majority of consumers would do the same simply because they don't know any better, and even people on this forum won't necessarily understand this either.

With that said even though I have experienced lag on vanilla android it really wasn't a big deal, not big enough to give up the phone that's for sure, same as with Touchwiz, I never saw what the big deal was.

 

[bmac4]

Nah, I still disagree with that, but it's just my opinion. How many Android phones have Jelly Bean? I mean you can blame lag on some phones that came before project butter, or whatever it was called when Google really got serious about lag. Or vice versa, it could be hardware, I had jelly bean 4.1.2 loaded on a Samsung captivate and it lags, but that's due to the old hardware.

If I'm getting a phone from a store completely stock I have no issues comparing it to a stock phone from another company. The vast majority of consumers would do the same simply because they don't know any better, and even people on this forum won't necessarily understand this either.

With that said even though I have experienced lag on vanilla android it really wasn't a big deal, not big enough to give up the phone that's for sure, same as with Touchwiz, I never saw what the big deal was.

So I will say this again. I can go into At&t right now and get an iPhone 4. I just see that free after signing a 2 year contract, so I am sure the iPhone 4 is just as good as any thing else. Can I then compare that to my nexus 4 and say that it lags more than my nexus 4, so android is not smoother than iOS? .

 

[spinedoc77]

So I will say this again. I can go into At&t right now and get an iPhone 4. I just see that free after signing a 2 year contract, so I am sure the iPhone 4 is just as good as any thing else. Can I then compare that to my nexus 4 and say that it lags more than my nexus 4, so android is not smoother than iOS? .

Sure, if you load up ios6 on it it will lag like crazy, I have my wifes old iphone 4 and with ios6 it runs like crap. But I think where it's different is that it's not the latest and greatest, and consumers usually ARE much more aware of what the latest flagship phone is. This thread was specifically about comparing the ip5 to the GS4, the latest and greatest from each respective company.

I mean you can really make any scenario you wanted to construct. Compare an older phone, a non butter jb, a skinned phone, a jailbroken phone, you can tip the scales for or against either OS by including whatever hardware you want to include.

 

[bmac4]

Sure, if you load up ios6 on it it will lag like crazy, I have my wifes old iphone 4 and with ios6 it runs like crap. But I think where it's different is that it's not the latest and greatest, and consumers usually ARE much more aware of what the latest flagship phone is. This thread was specifically about comparing the ip5 to the GS4, the latest and greatest from each respective company.

I mean you can really make any scenario you wanted to construct. Compare an older phone, a non butter jb, a skinned phone, a jailbroken phone, you can tip the scales for or against either OS by including whatever hardware you want to include.

OK well the reason I say this is because that is the scenario you made. If it is the carrier store the consumer want know the difference. You say because the S4 is in the store that is what people are going to buy, and know nothing about the nexus 4. Those same customers could careless about the latest and greatest. My mom has the iPhone 4 and could careless if it lags, but she does notice that my nexus 4 is much faster. You pretty much made the customer a none tech person because you said they would buy whatever android was at the carrier store. If they are that type of person then they would not care which iPhone they got.

I think you are trying to make this work how ever you can in the iphone's favor. Ever scenario you have give I have suggested of how it could be compared more evenly. To which you would come up with some way that it is not fair. Well my thoughts are comparing an S4 to an iPhone 5 in smoothness is not a fair comparison. I have given plenty of evidence of why it is not fair. You can keep saying what you want, but if you can't not give me something more than just "they are both sold in carrier stores and the nexus 4 is not" then it is not worth my time to keep discussing this.

 

[spinedoc77]

OK well the reason I say this is because that is the scenario you made. If it is the carrier store the consumer want know the difference. You say because the S4 is in the store that is what people are going to buy, and know nothing about the nexus 4. Those same customers could careless about the latest and greatest. My mom has the iPhone 4 and could careless if it lags, but she does notice that my nexus 4 is much faster. You pretty much made the customer a none tech person because you said they would buy whatever android was at the carrier store. If they are that type of person then they would not care which iPhone they got.

I think you are trying to make this work how ever you can in the iphone's favor. Ever scenario you have give I have suggested of how it could be compared more evenly. To which you would come up with some way that it is not fair. Well my thoughts are comparing an S4 to an iPhone 5 in smoothness is not a fair comparison. I have given plenty of evidence of why it is not fair. You can keep saying what you want, but if you can't not give me something more than just "they are both sold in carrier stores and the nexus 4 is not" then it is not worth my time to keep discussing this.

Sorry this discussion is getting way too confusing for me. Android lags, vanilla android lags, beyond that I'm not sure your point. Compare a Nexus 7 which is a vanilla android to an iphone 5 if you like, I have and found the N7 lagged a bit.

 

[bmac4]

Sorry this discussion is getting way too confusing for me. Android lags, vanilla android lags, beyond that I'm not sure your point. Compare a Nexus 7 which is a vanilla android to an iphone 5 if you like, I have and found the N7 lagged a bit.

Oh OK so now you are just saying android lags. I am going to say this again maybe if I put it in capital letter you will get it. MY NEXUS 4 DOES NOT LAG. IT LAGS AS MUCH AS MU IPHONE 5. Do I need to be any more clear?

 

[spinedoc77]

Oh OK so now you are just saying android lags. I am going to say this again maybe if I put it in capital letter you will get it. MY NEXUS 4 DOES NOT LAG. IT LAGS AS MUCH AS MU IPHONE 5. Do I need to be any more clear?

I've been saying I've experienced lag on vanilla android since page one. My experiences are obviously different than yours. Not sure why you are so angry, lol.

 

[bmac4]

I've been saying I've experienced lag on vanilla android since page one. My experiences are obviously different than yours. Not sure why you are so angry, lol.

You have not said once that you have used the flagship Google phone the nexus 4, so your experiences with vanilla android don't mean anything. Sure your nexus 7 can't keep up with an iPhone 5. The thing is over a year old. Good try though.

 

[spinedoc77]

You have not said once that you have used the flagship Google phone the nexus 4, so your experiences with vanilla android don't mean anything. Sure your nexus 7 can't keep up with an iPhone 5. The thing is over a year old. Good try though.

Ahh so now its not vanilla android that's what should be comparable to an ip5, but specifically only a nexus 4. Ok I got you.

 

[bmac4]

Ahh so now its not vanilla android that's what should be comparable to an ip5, but specifically only a nexus 4. Ok I got you.

Wow you really do know how to turn things around don't you. I suggested we compare a iPhone 4 which is not the current iPhone. You said of course it would lag. Before you said we should be comparing the latest and greatest from each. Guess what that is the iPhone 5 and nexus 4. Those are the latest and greatest, so how else would you like to make this comparison go in favor of the iPhone 5? Oh wait now it needs to be any iPhone cause that is what we are going to do with android. Why don't we compare the iPad mini with the nexus 4? Yea a tablet with a phone makes perfect sense. You can keep trying to bring things up that you know will make the iPhone look like the better device, but at some point you are going to run out of ideas. I have stuck with one this whole time. The iPhone 5 and the nexus 4 should be the only two devices compared when talking about smoothness. If we make that comparison the nexus 4 is just as smooth as the iPhone 5.

 

[spinedoc77]

Wow you really do know how to turn things around don't you. I suggested we compare a iPhone 4 which is not the current iPhone. You said of course it would lag. Before you said we should be comparing the latest and greatest from each. Guess what that is the iPhone 5 and nexus 4. Those are the latest and greatest, so how else would you like to make this comparison go in favor of the iPhone 5? Oh wait now it needs to be any iPhone cause that is what we are going to do with android. Why don't we compare the iPad mini with the nexus 4? Yea a tablet with a phone makes perfect sense. You can keep trying to bring things up that you know will make the iPhone look like the better device, but at some point you are going to run out of ideas. I have stuck with one this whole time. The iPhone 5 and the nexus 4 should be the only two devices compared when talking about smoothness. If we make that comparison the nexus 4 is just as smooth as the iPhone 5.

Wow the anger, lol, it's only an internet forum. I don't know personally if the N4 lags, there are a lot of items that come up on a google search for lag and Nexus 4, but once again I have never used one personally so I couldn't say if it does or doesn't.

I thought a nexus 7 would have been a valid comparison, they both have quad core cpu's, although I believe the N7 is only 1200 versus the N4 1500, and the N4 has more RAM. But still, with the N7's specs it's difficult to accept that it lags.

Still, my point still remains I disagree that the N4 should be the ONLY android phone allowed to be compared with the ip5. You can stamp your feet and tantrum all you want, but it's simply my opinion, same as it's simply your opinion, neither of us are right or wrong. I've laid out my reasoning, as you have yours so probably not much else to be said.

Also I NEVER said the IP5 was a better device, 1) I said it lags less than the Android phones I have used and 2) it is a better device for MY needs.

 

[sentinelsx]

The iPhone 5 and the nexus 4 should be the only two devices compared when talking about smoothness. If we make that comparison the nexus 4 is just as smooth as the iPhone 5.

If you compare a n7 running stock 4.2.2 with an ipad mini though, the mini comes up even with inferior hardware. Seems the n7 gets slow after a few weeks of use.

No one knows if it is tegra, some abomination in 4.2, or both.


And slightly off topic, there is a huge detailed post over on g+ from an android guru who knows the inner workings of the OS and squashes some myths about android, but clearly states that the faster and better the hardware and the better optimized the app, android will be smoother. She claims multiple times that with slower hardware, we are bound to see issues with lag which attributes solely to how the processes are coded to run. Here it is:

https://plus.google.com/app/basic/stream/z123z1eomsqdzbexo04ccdjy2ujlhl4xmy00k

Have to read the entire post as it is worth reading, but it shows how dependent android is on better hardware.


What I did notice though, is that her post shows that once hardware gets really good, and the software and apps are designed much better, android should offer better experience because of how ios is limited through its design choices.

The only thing I fear though is that judging from past and present, the OEMs in charge of selling android based devices either do not give a damn about that or are simply unable to do a great enough job.

Hence my view reinforced that unless google takes complete control of their OS through a google designed and manufactured phone, we will probably never see android truly shine. It is sad.

 

[bmac4]

Wow the anger, lol, it's only an internet forum. I don't know personally if the N4 lags, there are a lot of items that come up on a google search for lag and Nexus 4, but once again I have never used one personally so I couldn't say if it does or doesn't.

I thought a nexus 7 would have been a valid comparison, they both have quad core cpu's, although I believe the N7 is only 1200 versus the N4 1500, and the N4 has more RAM. But still, with the N7's specs it's difficult to accept that it lags.

Still, my point still remains I disagree that the N4 should be the ONLY android phone allowed to be compared with the ip5. You can stamp your feet and tantrum all you want, but it's simply my opinion, same as it's simply your opinion, neither of us are right or wrong. I've laid out my reasoning, as you have yours so probably not much else to be said.

Also I NEVER said the IP5 was a better device, 1) I said it lags less than the Android phones I have used and 2) it is a better device for MY needs.

I am not mad. I know that this is an internet forum. You just keep saying things that I brought up and you threw out. I said we could compare the iPhone 4. You said no because it is old. You then compare you over a year old N7 to the iPhone 5 which is about 7 months old to it. I don't understand how this works. If you want to go down that road then why can't we compare the iPad mini with the nexus 4? If we do that then the nexus 4 blows iOS out of the water.

Also not once did I say which device is better. I don't do that. I like one thing. Someone else likes something else. All I am saying is stock android on nexus 4 is just as smooth as iOS. You are saying it depends on the device. To which I say iOS does the same thing.

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If you compare a n7 running stock 4.2.2 with an ipad mini though, the mini comes up even with inferior hardware. Seems the n7 gets slow after a few weeks of use.

No one knows if it is tegra, some abomination in 4.2, or both.


And slightly off topic, there is a huge detailed post over on g+ from an android guru who knows the inner workings of the OS and squashes some myths about android, but clearly states that the faster and better the hardware and the better optimized the app, android will be smoother. She claims multiple times that with slower hardware, we are bound to see issues with lag which attributes solely to how the processes are coded to run. Here it is:

https://plus.google.com/app/basic/stream/z123z1eomsqdzbexo04ccdjy2ujlhl4xmy00k

Have to read the entire post as it is worth reading, but it shows how dependent android is on better hardware.


What I did notice though, is that her post shows that once hardware gets really good, and the software and apps are designed much better, android should offer better experience because of how ios is limited through its design choices.

The only thing I fear though is that judging from past and present, the OEMs in charge of selling android based devices either do not give a damn about that or are simply unable to do a great enough job.

Hence my view reinforced that unless google takes complete control of their OS through a google designed and manufactured phone, we will probably never see android truly shine. It is sad.

Thanks for the link.

 

[spinedoc77]

I am not mad. I know that this is an internet forum. You just keep saying things that I brought up and you threw out. I said we could compare the iPhone 4. You said no because it is old. You then compare you over a year old N7 to the iPhone 5 which is about 7 months old to it. I don't understand how this works. If you want to go down that road then why can't we compare the iPad mini with the nexus 4? If we do that then the nexus 4 blows iOS out of the water.

Also not once did I say which device is better. I don't do that. I like one thing. Someone else likes something else. All I am saying is stock android on nexus 4 is just as smooth as iOS. You are saying it depends on the device. To which I say iOS does the same thing.

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Thanks for the link.

I've also compared it to my Note 2, which is newer than the ip5, but of course the Note 2 isn't allowed to your standards because it's skinned, which I highly disagree with, but we can just agree to disagree. IMO the ip4 is taking it a little too far, then I can compare my Samsung Captivate at that point.

As for stock android on the N4 being just as smooth as the ip5 I never said that wasn't the case, I haven't owned a N4 so can't say that I personally have knowledge of that.

 

[DeathChill]

Am I the only one who found that my iPhone 4 actually got speedier with iOS 6?

EDIT: Nope, some Googling shows that iOS 6 actually improved the speed of the iPhone 4.

 

[bmac4]

I've also compared it to my Note 2, which is newer than the ip5, but of course the Note 2 isn't allowed to your standards because it's skinned, which I highly disagree with, but we can just agree to disagree. IMO the ip4 is taking it a little too far, then I can compare my Samsung Captivate at that point.

As for stock android on the N4 being just as smooth as the ip5 I never said that wasn't the case, I haven't owned a N4 so can't say that I personally have knowledge of that.

Oh I do t remember you saying anything about the note 2. I think it is very close to being as smooth. I am fine with throwing the iPhone 4 out, but I was proving a point. You still have yet to saying anything about the iPad mini and the nexus 4. You can say whatever you want, but if you want to compare different devices on each OS then the iPad mini has to be listed. It can't keep up with any of the other devices.