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'Coming back to iPhone from Android' 6s+ review

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unclejamaal

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 22, 2010
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'Coming back to iPhone from Android' 6s+ review

Having been away from iOS for a year, decided to come back to iPhone this year.

After a week with the 6s Plus 64Gb heres a short, to the point 'review'.

I'm sure these comments will have been repeated on these forums and others many times over!

I know there are many different Android skins, so my comments regarding Android really only apply to Samsung TouchWiz.

Previous 3 phones:

- Galaxy Note 4
- Galaxy S5
- iPhone 5

- The notifications bar is far superior on Android with the app icon displayed at the top of the screen and you just pull down the menu and see all your notifications and slide off any you dont want to see. Apple has some way to go before even matching this Android feature
- Samsung OLED screens beat the pants off Apple's 'Retina' display !
- Android apps crash a lot and over time the phone develops a huge lag.
- Android scrolling down a web browser or app is blazing fast. Apple deliberately slow down this and other animations to make everything look 'cool'.
- fingerprint scanner is useless on the Note 4. Apple's Touch ID has it just right, and maybe a bit too fast on the 6s+.
- Siri: great for calling people in your contacts. Recognises the name 90% of the time.
- Google Voice: useless for calling people in my contacts. Doesnt recognise the name 90% of the time!
- Siri: not brilliant for adding reminders for obscure things. Tried saying 'Remind me at 10pm tonight to order from Amazon' and it had difficulty recognising 'Amazon'.
- Google Voice: Excellent for adding reminders for obscure things. 'Remine me at 10pm tonight to order from Amazon' works and just about everything else I throw at it. EXCEPT calling people for some reason!.
- Siri: more 'interactive' therefore more 'cool' to show off to your mates.
- Google Voice: I would say more useful overall from what I've seen so far.

- iOS 'just works' - well , 90% of the time! Its a faff sometimes when messages start being sent/received from email addresses and not numbers for example. But generally, when it works, it works well.

- Reception on the iPhone is far superior than the samsung. Voice quality much better. Of the 3 samsungs Ive had in the past all of them have had voice/reception issues and I've just sent my Note 4 in for repair under warranty!

- iTunes is crap. who uses it these days? :)

- copying files to and from laptop is much easier with Android devices!

- Android has great customisation. Each and every android phone is unique if you spend time customising it. Most iPhones have the same ringtone, same home screen and are boring in this respect. Of course, once jailbroken, then its a gamechanger!

- iPhone is expensive and I'm almost thinking of returning the phone as I can't justify spending £700 on it!

So far according to my list above, Android seems to be 'winning', but I'm sticking with the iPhone for now because 'it just works'.

I'll add more to my review later ....
 
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More stuff:

- Apple fonts are more readable and better defined for a mobile screen, even on the larger Plus size.
- Battery lasts way longer on the iPhone compared to my previous Samsung devices.
- Apple keyboard is miles better than any Android keyboard i've tried. SwiftKey was the one I prefer on the Samsung. I make far less mistakes on the Apple keyboard and its more clever at predicting what you're typing to be honest.
- Support for Apple: walk in to an Apple store after booking with genius bar. Walk out 20 mins later with a new or refurb phone!
- Samsung support: call Samsung or walk in at a Samsung Store. Theres not many in the UK but Im lucky to have one 15 mins walk away. They keep the phone and you'll get it back within 'x' days.
 
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I essentially just did the same thing. Had iPhones on AT&T for years, and switched jobs 6 months ago and they gave me a Galaxy s5 on TMobile. My last iPhone was a 5s, and i just bought a 6s+ this weekend to retire the Galaxy s5. I agree with most of your list... but here are a few additional comments:

- The biggest letdown coming back to iPhone is the keyboard. The one on the Galaxy I seem to be much faster with. I installed Swiftkey last night and will try that, but still like the Galaxy better.
- Siri/Google Now - I don't use either of them a lot so can't say much about your comments on that. I will say that the added notifications Google throws in that it learns from Gmail behind the scenes are kind of cool and assume Siri Suggestions won't be able to do that. For example it tells me I need to leave to go to the airport because I had received an airline ticket confirmation in mail a few weeks prior.
- The "it just works" part of this on the iPhone is the biggest thing. The Galaxy continued to be confusing to me what it was doing sometimes.
- The biggest problem that annoyed me with the Galaxy was it would occasionally come on in my pocket and load a bunch of apps. I never had an iPhone do this. The one that was the most irritating was the music radio starting playing very loudly and no easy way to turn it off. Sometimes it would start a dozen or so apps and would then get hot and run the battery down quickly. It seemed to do better with not doing this if I didn't have the glass side of the phone facing my leg in my pocket.
- Fingerprint reader in the Galaxy was a pain to use vs. iPhone... it worked, but was really slow and sometimes took a number of tries to work. I went back to PIN on Galaxy after a while. Particularly when I was working out and had perspiration on my fingers the fingerprint reader was nearly unusable and I use my phone to track my workout.
- I really liked the durability and grip-ability of the Galaxy. I never used a case with it and it was very easy to hang on to. I did manage to drop it a few times and the plastic case was much more forgiving to that. It still looks nearly new. I don't know why Apple doesn't "design" their phones so they are easy to hold (less slippery) and a little more able to handle a small drop and not show it.
- Expandable storage and removable battery, while still remaining water resistant for the Galaxy, is something Apple should be able to master.... but the world seems to be going away from that now. I primarily bought the plus because of the bigger battery, and went 128G to avoid running out of storage with the bigger picture sizes.
- Galaxy screen is nice in different ways from the iPhone, however I could never get the brightness the way I wanted it. The Auto made it too dim at night, and seemed I was constantly switching in and out of auto brightness. With iPhone, I have always adjusted brightness once, and then after that the auto seemed to keep it where I wanted it in any situation.

Other than the keyboard inefficiency, I feel like I'm back with a familiar old friend after being frustrating with the Galaxy more than I wasn't.
 
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Loved android and have jumped back and forth between the 2 a couple times and agree but will add some things annoyed me about android.

Loved customization and the grid of square apps on iPhone is really boring compared to the unique set of home screens I had on my android phones with widgets, live wallpapers, changing themes, different launchers, etc. Agree on android notification system being much better. Love the sharpness of of the newer android screens, I'm a display buff and this really appeals to me.

The annoyances:
My phone had carrier branding and carrier apps installed out of the box that couldn't quickly and easily be deleted. Apps were of better quality on iOS and some of my favorite apps weren't on Android. Phone started blazing fast and slowed down over time and developed lag. Broke screen and had to mail my phone away instead of going to Apple Store and having new one immediately. New versions of android got released and I couldn't immediately get them and had no idea if/when my carrier and manufacturer would allow me to upgrade. Harder to sell privately and didn't maintain resale value as well as an iPhone. Daughter, daughters mother, fiance, parents, and 90% of close friends have iPhones so iMessage and FaceTime. I could cancel my messaging plan with iPhone bc 99% of messages were iMessages. Design consistency- on android some app icons were bigger than others, design was less consistent across the os. Battery seemed to run away sometimes and I'd occasionally get ads in my notifications.

Those were some of the annoyances i remember. But I loved a lot of things about it too. Going from my last android the htc one m7 which was beautiful, with 6 different customized home screens with live wallpapers and widgets to the square grid of apps on an iPhone was definitely "boring" ui wise. But ultimately the consistency of iOS, the close friends and fam having it, instant upgrades, resale value, immediate support at Apple Store, etc won out for me.
 
convergent said:
- Siri/Google Now - I don't use either of them a lot so can't say much about your comments on that. I will say that the added notifications Google throws in that it learns from Gmail behind the scenes are kind of cool and assume Siri Suggestions won't be able to do that. For example it tells me I need to leave to go to the airport because I had received an airline ticket confirmation in mail a few weeks prior.
Click to expand...

Google Now is also available on iOS. I have all my work emails forwarded to my gmail as an archive. Google Now will work on iPhones, at least when you open the app to use it. I'm not sure how well its notifications work in the background though.

Many are using Google maps already, Android users could certainly install Google Now, G+, Chrome, News, and (the recently added) Keep on their iPhones.
 
I have to say coming from an android handset (s6 edge) it feels great to be back with an iphone. (I generally switch back and forth).

The iphone 6s certainly isn't best phone on the market in every category, the display for example doesn't compare to the recent oled displays Samsung uses in my opinion. I also prefer the dual front facing speakers on the Nexus 6 and certain HTC handsets.

However the whole "Apple Experience" is superior for me personally.

Firstly ios is generally smoother, the apps are more polished, I know that my device will be eligible for ALL updates. See how long Samsung provide updates to your phone, you'll be lucky if you get any updates after 12 months (even 6 months).

I like the fact that if I have an issue I can go to ANY apple store and generally get the issue resolved there and then, try dealing with any other manufacturer and see what sort of experience you get.

Also as someone that changes their device often I like the fact that firstly Apple devices hold their value better, and are generally wanted by many people so you'll have no issue selling.

Lastly one thing I've slowly realised is I used to love Android for the flexibility, I loved flashing roms etc. But if I'm honest the reason to flash roms seems to be because the stock software generally seems to be full of bloatware, and crappy manufacturer skins (moto are one of the best though).

With ios it generally comes out the box bloody damn good.

Anyway all those points aside which apply as generally "android vs ios", as someone who has owned every single iphone the 6s plus is the best iphone Apple have made in my opinion, it's blistering fast, and ios 9 has some genuinely useful features.

The only thing I hope Apple change is that they start using oled displays in all their devices, if they do that they'll be perfect for me.
 
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Things I miss from Android (came from a Note 4):
  • Taking photos in 16:9. Not all the time, but some shots (e.g., landscape, large group photos) are just much better in wide screen mode.
  • A more customizable home screen. Beyond a 4x6 grid. Widgets, custom icons, shortcuts, etc.
  • QuickCharge 2.0
  • Google Now
  • SwiftKey. iOS version is still light years behind.
Things I love about the iPhone 6S Plus:
  • OS is fast and smooth like butter. No lagging.
  • TouchID is fast and reliable.
  • Live photos. Sorry to sound cliche, but if you have a baby or toddler it really can be magical. It captures a "moment" far better than what a still photo could ever do.
  • 3D touch. Can only get better as developers work with it.
  • Choice of accessories: dwarfs what any particular Android device has available (e.g., cases).
  • Fast software updates.
 
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TroyBoy30 said:
touchwiz is the devil. nexus or bust
Click to expand...

Sony's phones have a close-to-stock Android. However, Sony tries to bundle a lot of its crapware (e.g. Sketch, Socialife, Lounge) and some from third party developers (e.g. File Commander). You may want to root the phone to get rid of them.

What Samsung has is sheer marketing power: over here they have many 'Samsung lifestyle stores', and Samsung ads and posters can be found everywhere: at the bus stops, at the malls.
 
sunking101 said:
The top Android smartphones, at least in the UK, cost the same as an iPhone or they're certainly in the same ballpark where the extra cost of an iPhone is negligible.
Click to expand...

Android phones, even the top ones, drop drastically in value compared to iPhones.

If you don't believe me, wait till MWC 2016 at Barcelona and Samsung announces the Galaxy S7. Check and compare the prices of iPhone 6S/Plus and the Galaxy Note 5. ;)

The good thing about iPhones or Samsung phones is that due to their popularity, it's easy to obtain accessories. For other brands, it's considerably harder.
 
tlou said:
However the whole "Apple Experience" is superior for me personally.

Firstly ios is generally smoother, the apps are more polished, I know that my device will be eligible for ALL updates. See how long Samsung provide updates to your phone, you'll be lucky if you get any updates after 12 months (even 6 months).

I like the fact that if I have an issue I can go to ANY apple store and generally get the issue resolved there and then, try dealing with any other manufacturer and see what sort of experience you get.

Also as someone that changes their device often I like the fact that firstly Apple devices hold their value better, and are generally wanted by many people so you'll have no issue selling.
Click to expand...

I switch often as well. My last android phone being a Galaxy S6. I do love many aspects of Android and agree that thier notification system is far superior but what you said right here is the reason I keep coming back to Apple. You summed it up perfectly.
 
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TG1 said:
Things I miss from Android (came from a Note 4):
  • Taking photos in 16:9. Not all the time, but some shots (e.g., landscape, large group photos) are just much better in wide screen mode.
  • A more customizable home screen. Beyond a 4x6 grid. Widgets, custom icons, shortcuts, etc.
  • QuickCharge 2.0
  • Google Now
  • SwiftKey. iOS version is still light years behind.
Click to expand...
Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 next year (or later this year if you believe the Xiaomi hype machine) will have QuickCharge 3.0 and 3D fingerprint scanning.

Never was a fan of voice assistants.

Android Swiftkey still lacks Japanese language input (the beta has been going on for ages).

Widgets are a hit and miss. For example, Weather Timeline's widgets are awesome. Some others are so poorly designed it's just not worth cluttering your home screen with them.
 
I7guy said:
Samsung dropped the price?
Click to expand...

sunking101 said:
The top Android smartphones, at least in the UK, cost the same as an iPhone or they're certainly in the same ballpark where the extra cost of an iPhone is negligible.
Click to expand...

Galaxy 6S - $576-$800
Galaxy 6S Edge - $672-$768
Galaxy 6S Edge+ - $768-$864
Galaxy Note 5 - $696-$792

Good gracious, could Samsung be more convoluted?

iPhone 6(S) - $750-$850
iPhone 6(S)+ - $850-$950
 
hutrebug said:
Android phones, even the top ones, drop drastically in value compared to iPhones.

If you don't believe me, wait till MWC 2016 at Barcelona and Samsung announces the Galaxy S7. Check and compare the prices of iPhone 6S/Plus and the Galaxy Note 5. ;)

The good thing about iPhones or Samsung phones is that due to their popularity, it's easy to obtain accessories. For other brands, it's considerably harder.
Click to expand...

I know the prices drop and that resale value is poor. However, they are still expensive to buy even when over 12 months old. For example, today's price for the Note 4 is £475 GBP SIM free. That's still a reasonable amount of money for a previous generation smartphone when you consider that an iPhone 6S 16GB can be purchased for £539.
 
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AppleRobert said:
32gb storage versus 16gb. And there always seems to be a deal to trade in a smartphone with the Samsungs. And how about a free charger.
Click to expand...
:rolleyes: Free chargers and trade in deals amount to little less than desperate measures from a company that is taking on water faster than it can bail it out. They don't reflect the true prices of the devices.

You'll also notice I DIDNT include the 16GB iPhone prices in my comparison above by I didn't think it was an apples-to-apples comparison.
 
some good replies here comparing whats good and not in ios / Android.

Like many I switch phones a lot so lets see how long I stay with the 6s+ !

Some more 'things' about Apple and Android (Samsung) :

'Hey Siri' feature is brilliant. Its about 2 years too late for Apple to bring this out. Google have had the OK Google thing out for at least 2 years I think??? But, today I used it in anger and I have to say it is brilliant, and works even better for me at least than OK Google. Case scenario was I was driving. Leave the phone on the passenger seat. Just say 'Hey Siri' .. it wakes up. Call 'xxxxx' . It will call that person automatically in speaker mode. Totally hands free.

Same situation with Android:
You're driving. OK Google wont wake up the phone whilst locked/asleep as far as I know (not in Samsungs TouchWiz at least). You have to unlock it . a pain and more than illegal if driving and you have type your code in or enter the Android pattern. Say OK Google, it wakes up. 90% of the time I find OK Google for calls a PITA, as mentioned above. Even if you do manage to use OK google to call someone, its not intelligent enough to put speakerphone on :)

Oh, and Samsung's Touch ID rip off is crap. It's never worked for me, and hence I've never used it (but tried to on many occasions).

This morning I thought of returning the 6s+ in favor of waiting for a Nexus 6P, but then I saw where the fingerprint scanner is on that, and the horrible camera design on the back of the phone :)

Agreed about phones holding value better. Also, earphone controls tend to work better with iPhones which is another plus.
 
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