5s first impressions from a long time android guy

[JoeG4]

Hey everyone

So yeah, I haven't hidden the fact that while I've been a proud mac owner for over a decade, I've never owned an iPhone before. Yesterday changed that, and with it I felt like reflecting and sharing a few first impressions haha. The iPhone started off as a curiosity for me, I've always wondered what all of the rage was about, so here we go:

My other phone is a Galaxy Note 2, which a year later still feels like a fast phone - especially considering what's out there now. Surprise!

Hardware-wise: You knew what to expect here, the iPhone 5S feels smaller, more solid, and the design is cleaner. The buttons feel a lot better, but the screen feels a little more hollow, oddly enough.

Software-wise: I really like iOS 7. *scratches head* I don't know why almost every iPhone user I've known seems to dislike it so much, it's bright and pretty - which coming from Android is a nice switch up - in android everything is black.

Initial software impressions: As a gmail user, the email still sucks as it did back on my original iPod Touch. I was kinda surprised that neither apple nor google has managed to make it a push option, and the options for getting gmail aren't that great. Well shoot, that sucks!

You could say that aspect is a bit broken for me - I'm still getting used to something different, so I'm not going to use the apple expecting it to respond like an orange. Anyone have a good suggestion what to do about gmail? (Thanks )

Aside from toggling the mute switch, there really seems to be no way to turn off the notification dropdown sound when you're in a different app. Anyone? XD

Speed is nice, the responsiveness is great (which surprised me with half as much ram as my note 2 has), I have noticed a dropped frame or two.. the notification dropdown is kinda stupid.

Yeah, I went there. Whoever decided to waste room with a big box that says "Calendar: No events" should've been slapped upside the head.

The fingerprint sensor works pretty well, but doesn't work all the time. The camera takes very nice pictures, until you zoom in on them - then if it's not a sunny outdoor picture, it's a spotty high ISO one. This is to be expected from a cellphone camera.

As much as I didn't look forward to using iTunes to manage the phone, it actually works pretty darn well.

So that's about all I have to say right now, so far a decent experience!

 

[user-name-here]

Glad to see you join the dark side

To me you can't beat the design quality, one-handed operation, fluid OS, and integration with other apple products.

p.s. you probably want to download the gmail app instead of using the stock mail app.

 

[AlvinNguyen]

Hey everyone

So yeah, I haven't hidden the fact that while I've been a proud mac owner for over a decade, I've never owned an iPhone before. Yesterday changed that, and with it I felt like reflecting and sharing a few first impressions haha. The iPhone started off as a curiosity for me, I've always wondered what all of the rage was about, so here we go:

My other phone is a Galaxy Note 2, which a year later still feels like a fast phone - especially considering what's out there now. Surprise!

Hardware-wise: You knew what to expect here, the iPhone 5S feels smaller, more solid, and the design is cleaner. The buttons feel a lot better, but the screen feels a little more hollow, oddly enough.

Software-wise: I really like iOS 7. *scratches head* I don't know why almost every iPhone user I've known seems to dislike it so much, it's bright and pretty - which coming from Android is a nice switch up - in android everything is black.

Initial software impressions: As a gmail user, the email still sucks as it did back on my original iPod Touch. I was kinda surprised that neither apple nor google has managed to make it a push option, and the options for getting gmail aren't that great. Well shoot, that sucks!

You could say that aspect is a bit broken for me - I'm still getting used to something different, so I'm not going to use the apple expecting it to respond like an orange. Anyone have a good suggestion what to do about gmail? (Thanks )

Aside from toggling the mute switch, there really seems to be no way to turn off the notification dropdown sound when you're in a different app. Anyone? XD

Speed is nice, the responsiveness is great (which surprised me with half as much ram as my note 2 has), I have noticed a dropped frame or two.. the notification dropdown is kinda stupid.

Yeah, I went there. Whoever decided to waste room with a big box that says "Calendar: No events" should've been slapped upside the head.

The fingerprint sensor works pretty well, but doesn't work all the time. The camera takes very nice pictures, until you zoom in on them - then if it's not a sunny outdoor picture, it's a spotty high ISO one. This is to be expected from a cellphone camera.

As much as I didn't look forward to using iTunes to manage the phone, it actually works pretty darn well.

So that's about all I have to say right now, so far a decent experience!

You will appreciate it once you use more apps.

I use GMAIL and Mailbox apps to manage my GMAIL accounts.

The fingprint sensor works better for me on the second day. Still faster than the android "swipe pattern to unlock" which I hated (same with passcode to unlock on other iphones).

 

[Manzana]

Initial software impressions: As a gmail user, the email still sucks as it did back on my original iPod Touch. I was kinda surprised that neither apple nor google has managed to make it a push option, and the options for getting gmail aren't that great. Well shoot, that sucks!

Try Mailbox

 

[alent1234]

in settings > notifications there are settings for every app. sound, etc.

and the only thing you need itunes is for copying your own content

 

[deeddawg]

As a gmail user, the email still sucks as it did back on my original iPod Touch. I was kinda surprised that neither apple nor google has managed to make it a push option, and the options for getting gmail aren't that great. Well shoot, that sucks!

You can thank Google for that one.

Gmail *was* push when setup in Mail as an Exchange account, but Google removed that capability for new devices a few months ago. Possibly as an effort to drive people to use Google's email app on iOS devices (which does give you much of the Gmail functionality you wish to have)

Aside from toggling the mute switch, there really seems to be no way to turn off the notification dropdown sound when you're in a different app. Anyone? XD

Settings->NotificationCenter has configs for all the notifications including sounds and behavior on a per-app and per-email-account basis.

As much as I didn't look forward to using iTunes to manage the phone, it actually works pretty darn well.

FWIW, iTunes seems to work much faster and more fluidly on Mac computers than Windows. I'm sure you're really surprised.

Good on you for giving iOS a fair shake. Android has its plusses too, and different people will find different platforms better meet their needs.

 

[BeeGood]

First let me say welcome to the fold!

Solid post. I agree with a lot of it.

I agree, t it looks nothing like android (for better or for worse). That was the FIRST thing haters were saying when it was introduced.

I actually agree with you about the notification center. The new Today tab needs to be reworked. Honestly, I liked the notifications worked in 6 better.

If you use exclusively gmail, use the gmail app. Don't even bother with the native app.

I've never understood people's gripe with iTunes. But maybe I just don't use it enough. I only sync music there and I don't own much.

 

[horsebattery]

Same here. Just switched from a Galaxy S2. The main things I miss right now are the longer screen width, swipe-to-delete on the Gmail app, and that the stock VPN feature does not remain on when the phone goes to sleep.

I did have an ipad previously. Really wish that the side toggle switch can be changed to act as Orientation Lock as well.

 

[JoeG4]

lol, thanks guys for all of the app suggestions I'll look into them. It's a real shame about the drop of exchange support, as I have 4 google accounts (1 gmail and several google apps) and that does get interesting.

The smaller size is .. refreshing actually. My hands aren't that big xD

You know what really had me bummed?! My car's radio in theory can display album art+song info over the bluetooth audio, but none of my android phones show it.. and nor does the iphone lol. Too bad!

I do know what iOS 6 is like, because I've been doing iOS development a while and play with it plenty in the simulator and at my internship, did it on iPod Touches. For the most part: oh man iOS 7 looks so much better lol.

 

[alent1234]

i carry an iphone 5 and galaxy s3 every day and the only thing i use the S3 for is to read my kindle books on a packed train and read some news when i want to export to evernote from the app

otherwise the iphone is a much better phone. easier to type, a lot less lag, etc

 

[horsebattery]

i carry an iphone 5 and galaxy s3 every day and the only thing i use the S3 for is to read my kindle books on a packed train and read some news when i want to export to evernote from the app

otherwise the iphone is a much better phone. easier to type, a lot less lag, etc

Yeah, reading Kindle books and RSS feeds are the only gripes I have with the screen size, although I've just resorted to bringing an actual Kindle with me instead

 

[redlinux]

Ha! I also came from the N7100 to A1533. I'm not sure if I would actually like it since I'm still waiting for mine to arrive.

 

[sjinsjca]

The fingerprint sensor learns with time.

If it fails to recognize a finger but an immediately subsequent read is successful, it will refine its understanding of that finger's map.

Glad you're enjoying it. As for me, I'm blown away. This machine is an amazing accomplishment. I feel like I'm trivializing it, calling it a "phone".

 

[cfairbank]

+3 on Mailbox in conjunction with the gmail app.

 

[kingdLo]

For the email, one way to get 'push' is to forward everything to iCloud, and then set up a sending address of Gmail.

Gmail to iCloud, send address set as SMTP gmail server is what I do.

 

[SR71]

If you're using Gmail definitely download Mailbox. Best gmail app out there and it supports push email.

 

[JoeG4]

So I was trying to check my email during a phone call and found out that when you're on t-mobile LTE, the iphone 5s can't do simultaneous voice and data.

I heard something like that before, but forgot about it. Dangit apple!

 

[farmD]

So I was trying to check my email during a phone call and found out that when you're on t-mobile LTE, the iphone 5s can't do simultaneous voice and data.

I heard something like that before, but forgot about it. Dangit apple!

What really??? I thought AT&T and T-Mobile had that feature unlike the other two major carriers (Verizon and Sprint)? Guess its only AT&T?

Edit: Are you sure? I asked my friend who has a T-Mobile IPhone 5 and he said he is able to use talk and data at the same time. There shouldn't be any difference in bands from the IP5 as far as T-Mobile is concerned.

 

[bozzykid]

What really??? I thought AT&T and T-Mobile had that feature unlike the other two major carriers (Verizon and Sprint)? Guess its only AT&T?

Simultaneous data and voice works just fine on T-Mobile. Not sure what the poster is talking about.

 

[M5RahuL]

So I was trying to check my email during a phone call and found out that when you're on t-mobile LTE, the iphone 5s can't do simultaneous voice and data.

I heard something like that before, but forgot about it. Dangit apple!

Huh ? I do this everyday w/o any issues, unless it drops to 'Edge' which is getting rarer.

 

[Satnam1989]

So I was trying to check my email during a phone call and found out that when you're on t-mobile LTE, the iphone 5s can't do simultaneous voice and data.

I heard something like that before, but forgot about it. Dangit apple!

please elaborate - because T-Mobile does have VoLTE unlike other carriers, however its never been an issue up until you mentioned it...I've used T-Mobile before LTE rolled out and always had Voice + Data on 4G....

 

[KPOM]

So I was trying to check my email during a phone call and found out that when you're on t-mobile LTE, the iphone 5s can't do simultaneous voice and data.



I heard something like that before, but forgot about it. Dangit apple!

Yes it can. It just drops down to "4G" (really 3G) because the iPhone doesn't support simultaneous voice and LTE.

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Software-wise: I really like iOS 7. *scratches head* I don't know why almost every iPhone user I've known seems to dislike it so much, it's bright and pretty - which coming from Android is a nice switch up - in android everything is black.


So that's about all I have to say right now, so far a decent experience!

I think the iOS 7 backlash is simply because it's different. Since you've been on Android you haven't been exposed day and night to the old look of iOS. Their design philosophy has done a complete 180. While the green felt and leather stitching was overkill, the glassy effects of the wallpaper and some of the other graphics was nice eye candy. All that's gone, and it looks more austere now.

That said, after a few days, iOS 7 looks completely normal.

 

[farmD]

I think the iOS 7 backlash is simply because it's different. Since you've been on Android you haven't been exposed day and night to the old look of iOS. Their design philosophy has done a complete 180. While the green felt and leather stitching was overkill, the glassy effects of the wallpaper and some of the other graphics was nice eye candy. All that's gone, and it looks more austere now.

That said, after a few days, iOS 7 looks completely normal.

Anyway to minimize the animations on IOS7? The "reduce motion" option under accessibility just doesn't do much IMO.

 

[KPOM]

Anyway to minimize the animations on IOS7? The "reduce motion" option under accessibility just doesn't do much IMO.

So far, no, but if the reports of people getting motion sickness and vertigo continue (check out CNet) they might do that in a future version.

 

[JoeG4]

lol you know, you got me there, I forgot that simultaneous voice+data doesn't work on EDGE.

There's a pretty good chance I was getting an EDGE signal at the time. I'll check that spot again and make sure next time I"m there heheh. Thanks guys!

There's been a lot of LTE rollout around here, most places I go have it now (including my home, yay!) so I forgot that might just be the case in that spot. And it probably was.