5s first impressions from a long time android guy

[sjinsjca]

Source?

No less than Anand Lai Shimpi.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7335/the-iphone-5s-review/2

Don’t worry about giving Touch ID a perfect map of your fingers on the first try. Touch ID is designed to adapt over time. Whenever an unlock attempt fails and is followed by a successful attempt, the 5s will compare the print map from the failed attempt and if it determines that both attempts were made with the same finger it will expand the match database for that finger. Indeed I tested and verified this was working. I deliberately picked a weird angle and part of my thumb to unlock the 5s, which was immediately rejected. I then followed it up with a known good placement and was successful. I then repeated the weird attempt from before and had it immediately succeed. ​

...Cool, huh?

 

[dmystic1]

Slightly off topic but I haven't seen someone us IE is years, do you actually use it as your main browser?

It works fine. My laptop has a finger print scanner that inputs my pass words for all sites and it does not integrate with any other browser. What browser do you suggest?

 

[upnorth85]

I bought an iPhone 5C for my mom and plan to use it until thanksgiving and then decide to go for an SGS4 or the iPhone 5C. I use a iPad mini, full iPad and MacBook Air (on windows 7). My experience on 5C was similar to yours. Very smooth transition between screens, no hangups, camera was fantastic even in poor light and in general an excellent device.
But..
One thing I am not able to adjust to is the keyboard. My phone is used as workhorse to respond to urgent e-mails which can't wait for me to get to my desk. Swype is superfast compared to an iPhone keyboard. I do use the voice when the situation permits but often I end up using finger typing. I wonder how to do people who have used swype adjust to an iPhone keyboard. Looking back, most of my colleagues who use iPhones respond in mono syllables.

Second some menu situations such as choosing favorite can only happen from favorites menu not from the contact list edit feature. I may have some learning to do, but it was not clear to me. Other issues, iOs always had better apps compared to Android. With the increase in market share of Android, some apps that I use such as the Wall Street Journal have voice playback of the news articles on Android but not in iOs. T-mobile Wi-Fi calling for free from overseas back home is available on all OS's except the iOs environment.

At this stage, I am tending to go for an SGS4 after the trial period. But I am going to try hard to see if I can find a way to match my typing speed between the two systems. Because to me that is the deal breaker. The superior advantages of an iPhone overcome everything else for me except typing speed. I use my phone mainly for work purposes.

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!

----------

In my opinion it will come down to how much text and written input you use your note for. If it is for games, reading, photos etc., iPhone is better. If the latter, you productivity will drop due to absence of swype and pen.

I have and love my Note 2 but I've had and loved iPhones. I'm gonna upgrade and I'm very torn between 5s and Note 3. I need the 3 to come out so I can fiddle with the darn display model! Its nice to know I can't really go wrong with either one.

 

[bwsteg]

I also went from a note 2 to iphone 5s, although Ive had numerous iphones in the past.

The 5s seems like old tech especially as far as the graphics go. I truly believe Apple is behind Samsung in the smartphone department..

 

[joesegh]

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.

ActiveSync support is still in place for Google Apps customers, so you can use Mail.app for those accounts if you set them up as Exchange.

 

[SR71]

It's funny because I came from the other direction with Android. I'm a MacBook/iPad/iPhone user. But because of some great deal opportunities (and curiosity) then for one month I did an experiment and used a Surface RT / Samsung GS4. (Spoiler: I didnt last a month because of the 5s release and ridiculously high Ebay resale value)

I wont go into the Surface stuff since thats not what this forum is about. But what I will say is that anyone who thinks touchscreen on Macbooks wont work is nuts.

As for the GS4 and Android. Wow! It's really sad that so many misconceptions about Android and Samsung exist because if you love technology then an interesting product should be admired regardless of who makes it.

Samsung: It's a shame that Samsung hate is so strong in the Apple community because if you actually use the product then those little "Apple-inspired" things people still talk about are trivial or generations gone (packaging, design, icons, power plug etc). But the Samsung exclusive stuff is amazing and way underrated. IR / Air Gestures / Wake by Voice / Tons of Camera Features / Face Unlock / Eye detection / Split Screen Apps /etc. It really was feature overload and I was so overwhelmed that avoided the "gimmicks". But by the end of the month I learned to use most of them and felt it improved the overall experience.

Android: I never intended to switch forever, but using Android full time for a month opened my eyes as to what a mature mobile OS it is.
- Notifications that make sense
- Apps. (Their library is much more complete than I thought)
- Keyboard Options (Swype and Swiftkey really increased productivity for me)
- NFC. Way underrated. (Car settings, custom setups, sharing etc all at a tap)
- Google integration is stellar (Not a "duh" statement. Google really has both the plan and execution that Apple lacks in web services)


Again, in the end I always intended to stick with Apple and I sold the stuff on Ebay once the 5s came out. Overall I left impressed and I have a higher respect for Android/Samsung and I truly believe that a bigger screen will improve the iOS experience without crippling it the way some people claim. In the past I used to think an Android user was missing out on things but times have changed and regardless of which platform you prefer then they're both pretty phenomenal.

(BTW. I also used a Galaxy Tab 7" for the month and hated it. The only thing I liked is that it fit in my back pocket so I didnt need to carry my iPad "purse". I do miss Android though so I'm heavily considering a used Note 2 just to carry around without service.)

I speak from experience and to be honest, Samsung sucks. They are the WORST manufacturer you could buy from if you're looking to have a good Android experience. I owned the S4 and it was such a poor experience. Top of the line specs, and it still lagged like hell. The keyboard was very delayed (especially with Swiftkey), the home screen froze up and was jittery, and the amount of bloatware and software gimmicks was ridiculous. It's not just Apple fans who hate Samsung, plenty of Android fans do as well. Their design sucks, their custom UI skin sucks, and performance is sub par (mostly because of their horrible UI). The only place the excelled in is with their display and their camera, although I do prefer the iPhone and the HTC One's IPS LCD displays. In my opinion, I don't think the pentile display on the S4 was clear or sharp in comparison to the iPhone or the One's display. Even though it's rated at 443 PPI, it's atill a pentile display. It's very easy to inflate PPI numbers with a pentile display as opposed to an LCD display. I forget what the reasoning behind that is but it has something to do with there being more green or blue pixels as opposed to the even layout that is in an LCD display.

Personally, the One has the best display I've ever seen. That's not to say that the S4 had a bad display, hell it's got an amazing display but it's still outclassed by the iPhone's display and the One's display. Especially in outdoor brightness tests.

 

[JoeG4]

I never used the pen on my note 2 because it usually had a few hyper sensitive spots on the screen where it would draw even if the pen wasn't quite touching... As for the keyboard,I really miss swiftkey... Apple really should bring back the thing where the keyboard only shows caps when shift is on though

However I am getting better with the apple keyboard, still it's be nice if you could use 3rs party options

 

[alent1234]

where is this magical integration? i have an S3 and an iphone 5 and i don't see a difference in google services. in fact, google maps is A LOT better on iOS than on any android phone i have ever used

It's funny because I came from the other direction with Android. I'm a MacBook/iPad/iPhone user. But because of some great deal opportunities (and curiosity) then for one month I did an experiment and used a Surface RT / Samsung GS4. (Spoiler: I didnt last a month because of the 5s release and ridiculously high Ebay resale value)

I wont go into the Surface stuff since thats not what this forum is about. But what I will say is that anyone who thinks touchscreen on Macbooks wont work is nuts.

As for the GS4 and Android. Wow! It's really sad that so many misconceptions about Android and Samsung exist because if you love technology then an interesting product should be admired regardless of who makes it.

Samsung: It's a shame that Samsung hate is so strong in the Apple community because if you actually use the product then those little "Apple-inspired" things people still talk about are trivial or generations gone (packaging, design, icons, power plug etc). But the Samsung exclusive stuff is amazing and way underrated. IR / Air Gestures / Wake by Voice / Tons of Camera Features / Face Unlock / Eye detection / Split Screen Apps /etc. It really was feature overload and I was so overwhelmed that avoided the "gimmicks". But by the end of the month I learned to use most of them and felt it improved the overall experience.

Android: I never intended to switch forever, but using Android full time for a month opened my eyes as to what a mature mobile OS it is.
- Notifications that make sense
- Apps. (Their library is much more complete than I thought)
- Keyboard Options (Swype and Swiftkey really increased productivity for me)
- NFC. Way underrated. (Car settings, custom setups, sharing etc all at a tap)
- Google integration is stellar (Not a "duh" statement. Google really has both the plan and execution that Apple lacks in web services)


Again, in the end I always intended to stick with Apple and I sold the stuff on Ebay once the 5s came out. Overall I left impressed and I have a higher respect for Android/Samsung and I truly believe that a bigger screen will improve the iOS experience without crippling it the way some people claim. In the past I used to think an Android user was missing out on things but times have changed and regardless of which platform you prefer then they're both pretty phenomenal.

(BTW. I also used a Galaxy Tab 7" for the month and hated it. The only thing I liked is that it fit in my back pocket so I didnt need to carry my iPad "purse". I do miss Android though so I'm heavily considering a used Note 2 just to carry around without service.)

 

[mikeyhd]

I also went from a note 2 to iphone 5s, although Ive had numerous iphones in the past.

The 5s seems like old tech especially as far as the graphics go. I truly believe Apple is behind Samsung in the smartphone department..

same here note 2 to 5s (also have multiple phone in the past), each phone have it good side and bad side, but the things that I hate about android is not able to sync music with iTunes (unless doing some trickery like double twist) and backup the phone to Desktop.

and I cannot live without touchID after a week.

 

[JoeG4]

One of the amusing things about the Note 2 is despite often being used as an example of how "modern smartphones are not about being a phone anymore", it's the best phone I can ever recall using. Simply put, the headset speaker on it sounds really good, and no phone seems to come close.

Maybe it's my imagination lol, sadly the 5S isn't as good on that regard either.

OTOH, sound quality is not as good with CyanogenMod 10.1 as it is with TouchWiz, and TouchWiz 4.1.2 murders my note 2's battery. And holding my Note 2 now makes my hand sore xD

 

[mikeyhd]

yeah, the note 2 just put in my pocket and a few email here and there and 10 hours later when I get home it's at 18%

 

[JoeG4]

yeah, the note 2 just put in my pocket and a few email here and there and 10 hours later when I get home it's at 18%

That was my problem with touchwiz, try cyanogenmod?

 

[jason2811]

Download the GMAIL app.

 

[BENJMNS]

got my 64gb 5s yesterday, but it was a hard decision to not go for the note3. i may well return my iphone and get the samsung. the note3 feels much more quality than the note2 and the note2 is a great phone.

just a tad big...

 

[bwsteg]

got my 64gb 5s yesterday, but it was a hard decision to not go for the note3. i may well return my iphone and get the samsung. the note3 feels much more quality than the note2 and the note2 is a great phone.

just a tad big...

I'm in the same boat. Sprint extended the return date on my apple.com iphone 5s purchase to 30 days (as far as getting my upgrade back). On Friday, I will see how much different the note 3 is from my previous note 2 - and Ill make a decision then..

I like the iphone 5s but its no different than my previous 5 and the screen is a tad too small for my liking.

On the other hand, the note 3 looks awfully similar to the note 2, so we'll come Friday...

 

[BENJMNS]

I'm in the same boat. Sprint extended the return date on my apple.com iphone 5s purchase to 30 days (as far as getting my upgrade back). On Friday, I will see how much different the note 3 is from my previous note 2 - and Ill make a decision then..

I like the iphone 5s but its no different than my previous 5 and the screen is a tad too small for my liking.

On the other hand, the note 3 looks awfully similar to the note 2, so we'll come Friday...

nononnono bud... the faux leather backing and the 1080p hd screen are both VERy obvious upgrades that the note2 needed. it's pretty sweet. touch choice.

 

[JoeG4]

lol that faux leather backing is nasty. On the plus side there will probably be 3rd party backings without it soon

 

[thebignewt]

Good thread, I started a similar one and got steered here. I've had a SG Nexus for a couple years, leaning either iPhone or even bigger. I like the HTC One comments (I had an Incredible the week that came out). One think I would hate to give up is Swiftkey X. Sometimes I only have to type one word of a sentence and the thing predicts the next 5 in the choices. My wife is always pecking away with her iPhone. I may switch to her 4S for a couple weeks while she plays with the SG Note3 later this week. Pleather baby!