Sorry, this is long.
Background: I had (have, actually) a SERO plan for sprint ($50 unlim everything), and I've been using an Epic 4g for the last year and a half. I bought a Epic 4g Touch on launch day, but didn't like the poor res density, so I returned it. When I heard that Verizon would be the only one getting the Nexus for awhile, I considered switching carriers (or picking up an additional plan). Not just for the phone, but since sprint had been very crappy for data speeds in my area, and their call reception is definitely more limited than the other "big two". I tried Verizon thinking I would get improved 3g speeds (not much 4g or LTE in my area) and much better call coverage. Bzzz. Wrong. Data speeds in my area were actually _worse_ (.4-.5/.3-.4 Mbps u/d average with VZ as opposed to average .6-.7/.4-.6 with sprint). Further, my call coverage didn't really expand much in my area. The dead zones I had before just moved around a little. I'm in a pretty suburban area, too. Nothing against VZ, but they weren't for me. So then I thought about trying ATT. They have HSPA+ in my area, so data rates with lowly 3g would be quick, and since they use GSM I could always buy an unlocked Galaxy Nexus if I wanted.
So the plan was to buy iphone 4s' for my wife and I, and sell mine if I wanted to switch to the nexus when it comes out (the iphone definitely has the most resale potential of any on-contract phone). We went to an apple store last Thursday and each got one. It was a perfect fit for my wife since she had never had a smartphone and didn't care about such functionality; her only real priority was for a good camera to capture photos of our young kids. I figured the iphone has that in spades, and with the new icloud it would work well with our ipads (I have a ipad 2 and she has my hand-me-down ipad 1). Before you start wondering if I'm an apple fanatic, rest assured that, though I do own a (recently bought) Macbook Air 13" and two ipads, I still don't care for a lot of their software "lock everything down" mentality. Honestly, if you hang around me, you probably hear more negative about Apple than positive. Yet, despite that, I love their hardware. I digress.
After taking the phones home for awhile and playing with them, I am MUCH closer to keeping the iphone now than I was planning to be, though I'm still on the fence. To avoid my usual rambling, I'll try to summarize in a list of pros/cons (my opinions, of course) for each:
iPhone 4S
Pros:
-"look and feel" is really top notch. I've never been a fan of cases, but this is a phone that begs to be used without one, IMO. I like the solid, heavy feel, and the use of glass and metal resonates with me
-icloud. it really does make syncing photos and videos taken with the onboard camera and my ipad and MBA just brain dead simple (read: automatic). Very nice to have. Also love the backup to the cloud, and that other apps use it too. That I can transfer pdfs between my ipad and iphone with the goodreader app and the cloud is very slick. I use my ipad at least 70% as a e-reader.
-Display. Of course, what else can be said? color reproduction is very good, though not as eye-grabbing as an OLED display, it just looks very solid. blacks are still "very good", though not excellent. Resolution is awesome
-The "experience". As mentioned, things "just work". It sounds like marketing BS to non-apple users, but it's true. First and foremost here is the browsing experience on the iphone. They have simply _mastered_ the use of touch-scrolling through a webpage. Just the right amount of "inertia" and as smooth as glass.
-It's the de facto standard for a smartphone. The fact that there are more iphones sold than any other single smartphone is compelling when you're a peripheral/accessory manufacturer. I do see this changing though with android's overtaking of iOS.
-App store. There's an app for just about everything. Really.
-Works exceedingly well with the apple ecosystem. With a MBA and ipad, it definitely complements these components well.
-Size. Fits very nice in my small-average sized hands. Can hit any part of the screen with my thumb and use without too much trouble with a single hand.
-Battery life. I have no clue what reviewers are complaining about with regard to battery life of iOS 5 and the iphone 4s. I can get a solid two days if I don't use it too much and I have a decent signal the entire time. I could _never_ get that with my Epic or Epic Touch (SG2), even rooted and with battery management.
Cons:
-Text entry. No swype is a big fail, IMO. After about 2 hours of use I did get much better at using iphones keypad, but it's still a far cry from android IMO.
-Almost zero customization. Little things like "vibrate on key press" are conspicuously absent. Really apple? BB pioneered this very useful feature years ago and it's pretty much ubiquitous in the smartphone industry, why isn't it on the 4s? No widgets is also a big downer. Auto brightness sucks (way too dim in darkness), so when I want to change brightness at night, I have a rather complicated process for doing so, instead of just pulling down a bar from the top and changing there. Even the ipad gets this right, but the iphone, not so much. Just another example of how user customization would go a long way.
-Screen size. This is a big one. 3.5" screen reminds me of my old HTC Diamond winmo phone. Doesn't seem to be as much of a problem as I originally thought since the resolution is just awesome, but it does force me to browse very close to my face to seem decent size.
-Build quality. I know, this sounds completely wrong. But what I consider to be build quality is really how easily a product can fail. Granted, I think from an electronics perspective, this phone will be working for quite awhile, but the materials used are not conducive to long term use. Period. Drops can be catastrophic, screen scratches relatively easily, the back is glass and scratches easily. Antenna is in an inconvenient spot, meaning cases and other external interfaces can reduce signal strength.
-Apps are expensive. Even on sale, apps that are released on both android and ios are almost invariably more expensive on iOS. The vast bulk of android apps _seem_ to be free, which I can't say for iOS.
-Inflexible for data storage/transfer/app usage. I hate hate hate the fact that if I want to read a single PDF in three different PDF viewers, I have to have it on my device three separate times. Each app "stovepipes" it's own file system. This is completely stupid. Not to mention how (relatively) difficult it is to get files on and off of the thing. This is getting better with iOS 5 and cloud, but it's definitely not where it needs to be.
-Poor integration with google apps (like navigation, goggles, shopping, etc)
-Poor navigation app and most decent ones cost money
-No free tether or wifi hotspot without jailbreak. This is also a big one. I have no clue why companies that cap your data usage care one whit about whether you tether or hotspot, but there it is. Jailbreaking (I tried it with my ipad and went back) is messy and buggy in my experience.
Galaxy Nexus
(or at least my interpretation of what it will be like based on a lot of Android experience). Naturally, take some of this with a grain of salt since the device isn't out yet.
Pros:
-Display, display, display. HD and OLED = one drool worthy display. PPI might not be quite as high as the iphone, but it's still better than print, so it's good enough for me.
-Customizable. Yeah, you can do just about anything you want with this device, especially once it's rooted.
-Google mentality. Granted, I don't like everything about Google, but their mentality when it comes to open source and free sharing of information is a damn sight better than apple IMO
-Durability. The Galaxy line of devices are all very durable, and I'm sure this one is no exception. They say the screen is a "gorilla glass alternative".
-NFC. Don't think I'll use this right away, but it's very nice to have.
-More "command buttons". Having multiple buttons (menu, home, etc) just makes apps easier to work with. Instead of taking up screen real estate with "back" buttons and the like (a la apple), it's all available to the app. I recognize ICS will have actual touch screen buttons which, technically, take up screen real estate, but since the screen size and aspect ratio were designed with the intent for those buttons to be present all the time, it's not the same.
-User replaceable battery. Yeah, this is definitely a low priority for me, but it's nice to have.
-Google experience. Navigation, apps, places, goggles, etc. Android will always get all of them and get them first. Plays well with gmail, which is my go-to for email.
-Ergos. Curved glass, soft touch no-slip back, thin. All very practical, if not beautiful
-Hacking community. This may sound like a pretty flimsy "pro", but the hacking community always seems to be able to accomplish far more with android devices than with ios.
Cons:
-Plastic. You just can't beat the look and feel of Apple products. The curved shape may be ergonomic, but it certainly ain't a looker (IMO).
-Not true "state of the art" hardware, with the exception of the display. This is a big one. CPU, GPU, Ram, etc are all at or even below industry standards established several months ago. Feels like a cop out for a true game-changer and flagship device. Why didn't they at least give it the Note internals?
-No SD slot. I'm shocked about this one. Except cloud storage, you're limited like the iphone.
-New OS version and display resolution means app support is probably going to be sub par for awhile. This is also a big one. I bought a ipad on launch day (didn't pre-order, I just incidentally walked into a store and had to have it) and remember how crappy support was for true ipad apps (as opposed to "2x" iphone apps). I'm afraid it'll be something like this.
-Too large. Though I think this phone will fit better in hand than the Epic Touch 4g (even though that device actually has a smaller display) on account of the width, it's still not going to be a great device for one-handed use.
I know I sort of ran out of "cons" toward the end there, but I was trying to stay away from naming the converse of the opposite device throughout. Overall, I'll probably end up using the iphone for another month or so to let the Nexus price settle and read reviews.
I don't think this came off as biased, but let me know if you think so. Anyone else have any opinions or thinking about switching?
Background: I had (have, actually) a SERO plan for sprint ($50 unlim everything), and I've been using an Epic 4g for the last year and a half. I bought a Epic 4g Touch on launch day, but didn't like the poor res density, so I returned it. When I heard that Verizon would be the only one getting the Nexus for awhile, I considered switching carriers (or picking up an additional plan). Not just for the phone, but since sprint had been very crappy for data speeds in my area, and their call reception is definitely more limited than the other "big two". I tried Verizon thinking I would get improved 3g speeds (not much 4g or LTE in my area) and much better call coverage. Bzzz. Wrong. Data speeds in my area were actually _worse_ (.4-.5/.3-.4 Mbps u/d average with VZ as opposed to average .6-.7/.4-.6 with sprint). Further, my call coverage didn't really expand much in my area. The dead zones I had before just moved around a little. I'm in a pretty suburban area, too. Nothing against VZ, but they weren't for me. So then I thought about trying ATT. They have HSPA+ in my area, so data rates with lowly 3g would be quick, and since they use GSM I could always buy an unlocked Galaxy Nexus if I wanted.
So the plan was to buy iphone 4s' for my wife and I, and sell mine if I wanted to switch to the nexus when it comes out (the iphone definitely has the most resale potential of any on-contract phone). We went to an apple store last Thursday and each got one. It was a perfect fit for my wife since she had never had a smartphone and didn't care about such functionality; her only real priority was for a good camera to capture photos of our young kids. I figured the iphone has that in spades, and with the new icloud it would work well with our ipads (I have a ipad 2 and she has my hand-me-down ipad 1). Before you start wondering if I'm an apple fanatic, rest assured that, though I do own a (recently bought) Macbook Air 13" and two ipads, I still don't care for a lot of their software "lock everything down" mentality. Honestly, if you hang around me, you probably hear more negative about Apple than positive. Yet, despite that, I love their hardware. I digress.
After taking the phones home for awhile and playing with them, I am MUCH closer to keeping the iphone now than I was planning to be, though I'm still on the fence. To avoid my usual rambling, I'll try to summarize in a list of pros/cons (my opinions, of course) for each:
iPhone 4S
Pros:
-"look and feel" is really top notch. I've never been a fan of cases, but this is a phone that begs to be used without one, IMO. I like the solid, heavy feel, and the use of glass and metal resonates with me
-icloud. it really does make syncing photos and videos taken with the onboard camera and my ipad and MBA just brain dead simple (read: automatic). Very nice to have. Also love the backup to the cloud, and that other apps use it too. That I can transfer pdfs between my ipad and iphone with the goodreader app and the cloud is very slick. I use my ipad at least 70% as a e-reader.
-Display. Of course, what else can be said? color reproduction is very good, though not as eye-grabbing as an OLED display, it just looks very solid. blacks are still "very good", though not excellent. Resolution is awesome
-The "experience". As mentioned, things "just work". It sounds like marketing BS to non-apple users, but it's true. First and foremost here is the browsing experience on the iphone. They have simply _mastered_ the use of touch-scrolling through a webpage. Just the right amount of "inertia" and as smooth as glass.
-It's the de facto standard for a smartphone. The fact that there are more iphones sold than any other single smartphone is compelling when you're a peripheral/accessory manufacturer. I do see this changing though with android's overtaking of iOS.
-App store. There's an app for just about everything. Really.
-Works exceedingly well with the apple ecosystem. With a MBA and ipad, it definitely complements these components well.
-Size. Fits very nice in my small-average sized hands. Can hit any part of the screen with my thumb and use without too much trouble with a single hand.
-Battery life. I have no clue what reviewers are complaining about with regard to battery life of iOS 5 and the iphone 4s. I can get a solid two days if I don't use it too much and I have a decent signal the entire time. I could _never_ get that with my Epic or Epic Touch (SG2), even rooted and with battery management.
Cons:
-Text entry. No swype is a big fail, IMO. After about 2 hours of use I did get much better at using iphones keypad, but it's still a far cry from android IMO.
-Almost zero customization. Little things like "vibrate on key press" are conspicuously absent. Really apple? BB pioneered this very useful feature years ago and it's pretty much ubiquitous in the smartphone industry, why isn't it on the 4s? No widgets is also a big downer. Auto brightness sucks (way too dim in darkness), so when I want to change brightness at night, I have a rather complicated process for doing so, instead of just pulling down a bar from the top and changing there. Even the ipad gets this right, but the iphone, not so much. Just another example of how user customization would go a long way.
-Screen size. This is a big one. 3.5" screen reminds me of my old HTC Diamond winmo phone. Doesn't seem to be as much of a problem as I originally thought since the resolution is just awesome, but it does force me to browse very close to my face to seem decent size.
-Build quality. I know, this sounds completely wrong. But what I consider to be build quality is really how easily a product can fail. Granted, I think from an electronics perspective, this phone will be working for quite awhile, but the materials used are not conducive to long term use. Period. Drops can be catastrophic, screen scratches relatively easily, the back is glass and scratches easily. Antenna is in an inconvenient spot, meaning cases and other external interfaces can reduce signal strength.
-Apps are expensive. Even on sale, apps that are released on both android and ios are almost invariably more expensive on iOS. The vast bulk of android apps _seem_ to be free, which I can't say for iOS.
-Inflexible for data storage/transfer/app usage. I hate hate hate the fact that if I want to read a single PDF in three different PDF viewers, I have to have it on my device three separate times. Each app "stovepipes" it's own file system. This is completely stupid. Not to mention how (relatively) difficult it is to get files on and off of the thing. This is getting better with iOS 5 and cloud, but it's definitely not where it needs to be.
-Poor integration with google apps (like navigation, goggles, shopping, etc)
-Poor navigation app and most decent ones cost money
-No free tether or wifi hotspot without jailbreak. This is also a big one. I have no clue why companies that cap your data usage care one whit about whether you tether or hotspot, but there it is. Jailbreaking (I tried it with my ipad and went back) is messy and buggy in my experience.
Galaxy Nexus
(or at least my interpretation of what it will be like based on a lot of Android experience). Naturally, take some of this with a grain of salt since the device isn't out yet.
Pros:
-Display, display, display. HD and OLED = one drool worthy display. PPI might not be quite as high as the iphone, but it's still better than print, so it's good enough for me.
-Customizable. Yeah, you can do just about anything you want with this device, especially once it's rooted.
-Google mentality. Granted, I don't like everything about Google, but their mentality when it comes to open source and free sharing of information is a damn sight better than apple IMO
-Durability. The Galaxy line of devices are all very durable, and I'm sure this one is no exception. They say the screen is a "gorilla glass alternative".
-NFC. Don't think I'll use this right away, but it's very nice to have.
-More "command buttons". Having multiple buttons (menu, home, etc) just makes apps easier to work with. Instead of taking up screen real estate with "back" buttons and the like (a la apple), it's all available to the app. I recognize ICS will have actual touch screen buttons which, technically, take up screen real estate, but since the screen size and aspect ratio were designed with the intent for those buttons to be present all the time, it's not the same.
-User replaceable battery. Yeah, this is definitely a low priority for me, but it's nice to have.
-Google experience. Navigation, apps, places, goggles, etc. Android will always get all of them and get them first. Plays well with gmail, which is my go-to for email.
-Ergos. Curved glass, soft touch no-slip back, thin. All very practical, if not beautiful
-Hacking community. This may sound like a pretty flimsy "pro", but the hacking community always seems to be able to accomplish far more with android devices than with ios.
Cons:
-Plastic. You just can't beat the look and feel of Apple products. The curved shape may be ergonomic, but it certainly ain't a looker (IMO).
-Not true "state of the art" hardware, with the exception of the display. This is a big one. CPU, GPU, Ram, etc are all at or even below industry standards established several months ago. Feels like a cop out for a true game-changer and flagship device. Why didn't they at least give it the Note internals?
-No SD slot. I'm shocked about this one. Except cloud storage, you're limited like the iphone.
-New OS version and display resolution means app support is probably going to be sub par for awhile. This is also a big one. I bought a ipad on launch day (didn't pre-order, I just incidentally walked into a store and had to have it) and remember how crappy support was for true ipad apps (as opposed to "2x" iphone apps). I'm afraid it'll be something like this.
-Too large. Though I think this phone will fit better in hand than the Epic Touch 4g (even though that device actually has a smaller display) on account of the width, it's still not going to be a great device for one-handed use.
I know I sort of ran out of "cons" toward the end there, but I was trying to stay away from naming the converse of the opposite device throughout. Overall, I'll probably end up using the iphone for another month or so to let the Nexus price settle and read reviews.
I don't think this came off as biased, but let me know if you think so. Anyone else have any opinions or thinking about switching?
ROCKS!
