A Canadians opinion on Android vs. iOS

[Jare]

So let me start off by saying although this is an iPhone forum, I've seen countless threads of "which should I pick" "android or ios?" etc. I've decided to share my experiences with you all.

After being sick of my iPhone 4, not due to any particular reason but I think it was in more relation to only owning iPhone's since the smartphone craze, I decided to go to something different. I ran around to all the Rogers stores in my area to play test a few Android devices, too bad I couldn't find any LIVE demo's, just dummy phones. So, I took the plunge and bought off contract the best available Android phone in MY AREA. The Samsung Galaxy S Captivate. Right away I looked at the screen and I was in love, sure it wasn't AS crisp as the iPhone 4 but boy o' boy, was it a great screen. Great color, perfect size.. and I thought this would be my end all device until Rogers put something else out that was better.

I played with everything I could. I kept it on stock just to see how well the device ran. It was great OS wise, but one huge issue stuck in my face. Lag/Screen Responsiveness. Now it's not like it was BAD and there was horrific lag or any of the sort, it was just jerky and felt kinda clumsy. Nonetheless I decided to stick out my purchase for at least 24 hours. I rooted the device, installed LagFix and didn't bother with custom ROM's as I did not mind TouchWiz 3.0.

It took me about 35 minutes to set up the entire phone before rooting. I sync'd my gmail account and facebook, but there were some issues with the syncing preventing my contacts from showing pictures in SMS's so I had to sync Facebook FIRST, then Gmail. Also I had to install SMS Time Fix as all my recieved texts showed up as 5 hours earlier then they were sent. This is when all the cracks in Android started to show.

Getting back to the rooted style.. I liked it. My phone was now super quick, everything was instant, my sms's were on time.. but alas the screen was still very slightly unresponsive and jerky, and this bothered me.

I returned my Captivate after being unsatisfied. I wanted to test voice quality but Rogers imposes a limit of 15 minutes of call time before you can return, which was not enough to test anything. The battery was OK, slightly less then the iPhone 4 but maybe it would've improved if I kept it long enough.

The strange thing is, still to this day I miss the Captivate. Mostly the screen and some parts of the OS, but it seems iPhone is going to be my home until Android catch's up in screen responsiveness and battery life.

Thanks for reading.

 

[lsvtecjohn3]

You had the Galaxy S for only one day?

 

[Pink∆Floyd]

What's wrong with a good ol' American opinion?

 

[ajohnson253]

Oh......I see. That's nice to hear.

 

[AZREOSpecialist]

I thank the OP for his opinion and willingness to share his experience. It's important information for those who are on the fence, and a real world experience is a valuable anecdotal data point. To the rest of you who obviously have nothing useful to say - don't say anything at all. That's the best response you can possibly give.

 

[aohus]

not really fair to compare your beloved iPhone4 to an android phone that 'you played with for a day'.

additionally, launcherpro woulda fixed all your 'lag' woes. thats android 101, but yeah, the android device shoulda been lagfree from the beginning without having to install 3rd party apps.

 

[w00t951]

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So let me start off by saying although this is an iPhone forum, I've seen countless threads of "which should I pick" "android or ios?" etc. I've decided to share my experiences with you all.

After being sick of my iPhone 4, not due to any particular reason but I think it was in more relation to only owning iPhone's since the smartphone craze, I decided to go to something different. I ran around to all the Rogers stores in my area to play test a few Android devices, too bad I couldn't find any LIVE demo's, just dummy phones. So, I took the plunge and bought off contract the best available Android phone in MY AREA. The Samsung Galaxy S Captivate. Right away I looked at the screen and I was in love, sure it wasn't AS crisp as the iPhone 4 but boy o' boy, was it a great screen. Great color, perfect size.. and I thought this would be my end all device until Rogers put something else out that was better.

I played with everything I could. I kept it on stock just to see how well the device ran. It was great OS wise, but one huge issue stuck in my face. Lag/Screen Responsiveness. Now it's not like it was BAD and there was horrific lag or any of the sort, it was just jerky and felt kinda clumsy. Nonetheless I decided to stick out my purchase for at least 24 hours. I rooted the device, installed LagFix and didn't bother with custom ROM's as I did not mind TouchWiz 3.0.

It took me about 35 minutes to set up the entire phone before rooting. I sync'd my gmail account and facebook, but there were some issues with the syncing preventing my contacts from showing pictures in SMS's so I had to sync Facebook FIRST, then Gmail. Also I had to install SMS Time Fix as all my recieved texts showed up as 5 hours earlier then they were sent. This is when all the cracks in Android started to show.

Getting back to the rooted style.. I liked it. My phone was now super quick, everything was instant, my sms's were on time.. but alas the screen was still very slightly unresponsive and jerky, and this bothered me.

I returned my Captivate after being unsatisfied. I wanted to test voice quality but Rogers imposes a limit of 15 minutes of call time before you can return, which was not enough to test anything. The battery was OK, slightly less then the iPhone 4 but maybe it would've improved if I kept it long enough.

The strange thing is, still to this day I miss the Captivate. Mostly the screen and some parts of the OS, but it seems iPhone is going to be my home until Android catch's up in screen responsiveness and battery life.

Thanks for reading.

If you have to do all of that to set up the phone, I'm never buying an Android. Jesus, that's more setup than with Windows 3.1!

 

[Jare]

not really fair to compare your beloved iPhone4 to an android phone that 'you played with for a day'.

additionally, launcherpro woulda fixed all your 'lag' woes. thats android 101, but yeah, the android device shoulda been lagfree from the beginning without having to install 3rd party apps.

Tried LauncherPro and honestly, it was still just as jerky. It felt a tad smoother but it wasn't anything you could actually notice with real life usage. You'd still notice the lag.

Also just FYI although I only had the phone for a day, I did my research ahead of time. I knew that it would be laggy, but no one explained how bad it really was and how much you'd actually notice. I thought it would be one of those things where people were just being nit picky about the lag.

@woot:

Sadly, plus having to root, check to make sure it worked, install LagFix, etc. It took about an hour in total, but the 35 minutes is the "usual" set up for people who've never had the phone before and bought it from Rogers. There was a lady ahead of me who clearly shouldn't have been buying the Captivate and she held up the line for an hour and 45 minutes getting the stupid Rep to show her how to set up the phone. And the rep kept saying "oops" at everything he did.

 

[Fliesen]

just be happy that your iPhone took you back after that little adventure ...

 

[kenypowa]

You should try the HTC Desire Z from Bell. That thing is lighting fast. Samsung Galaxy S phones are not as snappy as HTC/iPhone 4 for several reasons. 1: It is still stuck in 2.1 while every high end HTC Android is on 2.2 for some time. 2: Its TouchWiz UI is crap compared to Sense. I just happened to try Galaxy Tab along with Desire Z today. I can't believe Samsung put that thing out and sell it at $400 with a three year contract! Talk about giving the public an impression that Android OS is laggy compared to iOS.

To the OP, you can go to Futureshop or BB and try the Desire Z. Stock Desire Z is as buttery smooth as my rooted N1 running CM 6.1. Desire Z can be easily overclocked to over 1.4GHZ without any problem.

 

[Jare]

You should try the HTC Desire Z from Bell. That thing is lighting fast. Samsung Galaxy S phones are not as snappy as HTC/iPhone 4 for several reasons. 1: It is still stuck in 2.1 while every high end HTC Android is on 2.2 for some time. 2: Its TouchWiz UI is crap compared to Sense. I just happened to try Galaxy Tab along with Desire Z today. I can't believe Samsung put that thing out and sell it at $400 with a three year contract! Talk about giving the public an impression that Android OS is laggy compared to iOS.

To the OP, you can go to Futureshop or BB and try the Desire Z. Stock Desire Z is as buttery smooth as my rooted N1 running CM 6.1. Desire Z can be easily overclocked to over 1.4GHZ without any problem.

Bell is not available in my province. Hence Rogers. Also Telus in my province has 0 android phones.

 

[wordoflife]

The Captivate is on AT&T and always blows me away with "Should I get this?" but then I always talk myself out of it. I talk myself out of it because it would be a rather inconvenience not having the apps I payed for, etc.

My friend got rid of his 3GS and then when to the Captivate. He was back to iPhone a week later, but he upgraded to a 4.

The Captivate is a nice phone, physically, but I don't know if I'll still be able to get the latest Android version 2 years later and I also hate TouchWiz. It looks so much like an iPhone.

 

[hoing]

I have a rooted moto droid running 2.2, but what i think your problem was not overlcocking your phone. I have mine oc'd to 1.1 ghz, and launcherpro, and i can go easily a few days with moderate-heavy usage with no lag and no charge.

also, i agree that iphone comes ready made, but once you learn android os - what works and what doesnt, it goes beyond iOs. the use of widgets looks extremely appealing, and has great shortcut benefits. I was on the same boat as you, i was ready to return the android after 2 days coming from the iphone, but i searched the web and in one night my phone went from sluggish to insane. And dont forget, it takes a while to find what works best for your phone, 1 day IS NOT enough.

 

[wordoflife]

I have a rooted moto droid running 2.2, but what i think your problem was not overlcocking your phone. I have mine oc'd to 1.1 ghz, and launcherpro, and i can go easily a few days with moderate-heavy usage with no lag and no charge.

The Captivate already clocks in at 1Ghz. How much faster do you need it?

 

[kdarling]

Thanks for the report, but it was too general in spots.

For instance, as to where you still saw any lag using LauncherPro. Can you give any details on exactly what you mean? Scrolling between homescreens, launching apps or ?

The strange thing is, still to this day I miss the Captivate. Mostly the screen and some parts of the OS, but it seems iPhone is going to be my home until Android catch's up in screen responsiveness and battery life.

Can't lump all Android devices together.

For example, apparently Sprint's version (Galaxy Epic) never had the same file lag, because its flash file system was set up differently.

And other Android devices have none.

 

[Jare]

Thanks for the report, but it was too general in spots.

For instance, as to where you still saw any lag using LauncherPro. Can you give any details on exactly what you mean? Scrolling between homescreens, launching apps or ?



Can't lump all Android devices together.

For example, apparently Sprint's version (Galaxy Epic) never had the same file lag, because its flash file system was set up differently.

And other Android devices have none.

I probably should have added to the end of that quote "in my area".

LauncherPro's lag was when tapping the icons at the bottom, took a few seconds to open. Scrolling the app drawer, switching screens. All had 1-2s lag or a little less then that, but it was noticeable.

 

[Vegastouch]

My phone is rooted (Vibrant) and i removed all the bloatware that T-Mobile added which helps, and now i have a custom 2.2 Froyo ROM running on it. Im not using a lag fix and it is running smoothly and real responsive. I dont use Touchwiz (which is deleted with the ROM). I use Launcher Pro and ADW Launcher and Zeam also came with the ROM and i dont use the stock MessageSMS app. I use HandcentSMS which is also better. Some guys use Chomp SMS.

My Yahoo mail App used to be slow as he11 but since ive been running this ROM(called Axura 2.1 based on Froyo) even on EDGE the Yahoo mail App is much faster than it was on wifi. Swype wasnt running as good since i got the OTA update from TMo. It was touchy and made more mistakes but now it is like it was before.

There are tweaks you can do to these phones if you want. Granted they should run smooth out of the box and for the most part mine did, but it had lag here and there plus what i mentioned. Im all good now though.

Trying it our for a day is ridiculous. IMO you need a good week coming from an iPhone to get a good feel for Android since it is different and has many more options.

 

[Vegastouch]

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If you have to do all of that to set up the phone, I'm never buying an Android. Jesus, that's more setup than with Windows 3.1!

LOL, you have to set up your iPhone too. Facebook doesnt setup to your account by itself or your email and Twitter.

 

[hakuryuu]

I still have a Droid X (2.2, Launcher Pro, etc.) from my previous job and side by side the iPhone 4 (which I got from my new job a week ago) is way smoother and faster. The entire time I have had my X it hasn't been as amazing as people made it out to be. I have yet to come across an Android phone that is as polished as the iPhone in any way. The one and only thing Android has over iOS is the notification bar vs pop up alerts. If Apple fixes the alert system I can't imagine why I would go anywhere else. Open means jack if it doesn't work as well.

 

[w00t951]

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If you have to do all of that to set up the phone, I'm never buying an Android. Jesus, that's more setup than with Windows 3.1!

LOL, you have to set up your iPhone too. Facebook doesnt setup to your account by itself or your email and Twitter.

But my texts aren't 5 hours off and I don't have to install a crapload of 3rd party apps to do what the phone should do by itself.

 

[Xil3]

Well, it's obvious that Android isn't for everyone.

@OP I never experienced any jerkyness when I had the Galaxy S, but then again, everyone has different experiences.

And as someone else already said, it's running Android 2.1, which is very slow compared to the latest 2.2.

If you want to really compare Android vs iOS, try the new HTC Desire HD (or Z) or the Nexus One - those are running the latest Android OS and are VERY smooth.

It's also nice to note that Android doesn't impose the same restrictions that iOS does - you could use it as a memory stick if you wanted. Yay for open source

 

[GoCubsGo]

I'm not so sure why you, as a Canadian, felt the need to point out your nationality and how that brings any benefit to the subject. However, it is my opinion that one can have an opinion but the weight given to that opinion is likely very little due to your testing lasted less than 24 hours. Another issue is that you were on 2.1 when I thought you would have been on 2.2 by this time.

Rooting the phone was probably a good idea if you felt the need to install LagFix. I feel my Droid X is faster than the iPhone 4 personally but I didn't run benchmarks, as I see you didn't either.

You note an issue with SMS delivery, I would seek advice from your carrier and not equate that to the phone itself. I'm sure you'll return and say the IP4 never has an issue, but you did buy a phone and "test" it for less than 24 hours, who knows if the network was still updating or how that all worked.

Having only tried the Captivate in store, I cannot say that I agree with your assessment, but I don't find my Droid X to be choppy or laggy. Then again, I did not buy a phone just to go into it trying to find issues. I think it's nice that you tried an Android phone, but bottom line is, you had no reason to like it.

At least you found a phone that you like but to me, this doesn't help in the "which should I pick" war. It carries no more weight than it would coming from an Italian who tried the phone for 30 minutes in store.

w00t951 if you firmly believe that the steps he took to set up his phone (prior to rooting) are excessive then I question how your iPhone is set up. Did iOS automatically know the login to each of your social networking sites and apps? Did it then sync those contacts with your address book? The answer, btw, is no. The Android OS will allow you to sync your FB contacts with your Google contacts, if you so desire. These are extra steps but they're steps that would exist in iOS as well.

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

Just like many Android users say you shouldn't have to jailbreak to do this or that. The same thing applies to Android. You shouldn't have to lagfix, root, overclock, undervolt, etc: just for things to run smoothly with decent batt life.

There's nothing wrong with rooting or jailbreaking for added features, customization, etc: But for me personally I'm just so sick and beyond doing it for performance issues. I've already dealt with countless WM devices and 2 Android devices where doing so was absolutely nessecary. If it doesn't run smooth out the box then forget it. And it shouldn't be effing up already within 24hrs. He actually got lucky, most crap devices run very smoothly for the first week or so then it's all downhill.

 

[Vegastouch]

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But my texts aren't 5 hours off and I don't have to install a crapload of 3rd party apps to do what the phone should do by itself.

First time ive EVER heard of anyones texts being 5 hours off. I cant even believe that happened. And i used 3rd party apps on my iPhone for it to be better.

Hec the newest OS for Android (2.3 Gingerbread) is already right around the corner and my 2.2 is running smooth. Android may have started 2 years after iPhone but they are catching up and about to pass them. I read some tweets today about the Nexus S coming out (today?) with Gingerbread.

 

[Jare]

First time ive EVER heard of anyones texts being 5 hours off. I cant even believe that happened. And i used 3rd party apps on my iPhone for it to be better.

It's a Rogers + Android issue, not individually.

A quick search of google brings oodles of results. "Rogers SMS Timestamp Android"