Extremely Early first impressions of the iPhone 4s by an Android User

[aberrero]

but the 7" is $400. That's insane.

 

[PeteLP]

What I like in this thread is people being polite and respecting each other. Android users giving their likes and dislikes and Apple users not jumping all over them for making constructive criticism.

Same

This is thread is unusually free of flames and fanboyisms, and contains quite a bit of legitimate objectivity.

Loving my 4S btw

Pete

 

[ZBoater]

but the 7" is $400. That's insane.

It won't be for long. I'm in no hurry.

 

[Rondofan9]

I switched from a Droid X to iPhone4s.

Firstly, after being an android user I wanted something new. I thought the "cool-powerful-android" was getting old-and-annoying. I did a lot of overclocking and custom firmware mods that didn't help my case, but to be honest, I didn't even really like the notification thing after a while. I liked the push ones on my iTouch better. So I'm glad they went half and half, keep the top bar clean. I want to know how many bars, and my battery life, not see an icon party. That's just my personal preference.

Like you said, you can turn it on or off. It is kind of stupid that its not disabled by default. But there's nothing wrong with giving iPhone users more options. People are always complaining about not having enough options with apple products, and being limited. Just be glad you're smart enough to know you can disable it.

That siri comment looked like something apple would use on their website. Phenomenal quote, Siri is truly amazing. Apple is responsible for our advancement in some amazing technology (steve jobs <3)

I hated clicking purchase, download, then dragging my notifications bar down, waiting to see my app complete download, then complete install. Not to mention sometimes apps wouldn't even download on my Droid. I do like the simplicity of the 4s (any apple product really), I like things to be clean.

I had a similar problem on the droid. I had my hotmail (iconed ad email) and my gmail (iconed as gmail) but no matter which one i clicked it loaded my gmail. I had to download this app called better hotmail or easy hotmail to even use my hotmail on droid. I have no problems using multiple emails on my 4s.

Of course its fast, its A5 fast

When its charging it will have a plug-in sign, and a lightning bolt on the screen, when its finished, it will just have the lightning bolt centered.

I would not keep the otterbox. If you're going for style google "Slickwraps" I found out about them because their warehouse is by me. Which is very odd because im in Andover, KS. A dumb little rich town, anyway... they make some amazing ****, check'em out.

The camera is the best camera on a phone. I had the droid X and motorola cant make a camera to save their ass. Always fuzzy (noise looking results). 8mp or not, it sucked. The 4s = amazing.

Yes, I sound like I turned into a huge mac fanboy. I kind of have. I'm hope you're glad you made the switch, apple is truly great. Get an apple tv, plug it into your surround sound, or even bedroom tv and listen to music or watch movies from your phone, computer, or wireless hard drive. Get a mac, and itll last you forever, wait for ipad 3.

 

[Shenaniganz08]

lol readind through all these pages makes it clear that a lot of these complaints are simply because android users don't know that the options actually exist in iOS

but at least these kind of threads are useful for new iOS users

 

[macbook pro i5]

Yesterday I jumped the fence and retired my defective Nexus One Google Super Phone for an Apple iPhone 4s 16GB. I did not get much time with it, but here are my extremely premature first impressions of the phone coming from a long time Android fan.

First, the notification bar, they copied this from Android because it's a darn good idea but they did not do as well with implementing it. In Android there are little icons on the bar that tell you there are notifications waiting, with iOS there is not. So for example, right now in my notifications I have 1 Facebook message, which I only know is there because I took the time to check. If I did not there is no visual indication that I have one waiting for me. Now the other place that notifications show is on the lock screen. Those are very nice, and I can see myself using them pretty heavily, but it does seem a bit odd that if the phone is locked I can read my texts just by glancing at them as the come in.

Speaking of odd security things, if the phone is locked, all the voice controls still work. This is a setting you can change, but by default it is enabled. This means I can pick up anyone’s iPhone 4s and tell it to send nasty text messages to their spouse, or get information about their contacts and meetings with out knowing their passcode. This should be disabled by default.

The voice control is a big step over prior generations, and Apple here shines in the way they do best. They rarely if ever invent anything, but they do take ideas and make them much better. Siri, which is the app that does the voice control, was a purchased program but I do not know what it was like before Apple got a hold of it. What I do know is that it works great. I really can say, “Text my wife and tell her I will be late” and the phone will do exactly that. I really struggle with voice controls in other mediums, such as Xbox 360, voice menus on phones, and even the voice to text on the Android phones. Computers never seem to understand me, but Siri does. I would currently guesstimate Siri at about 90% for correctly turning my voice into text. Siri does have a few limitations that I assume will be addressed later, for example they did not integrate it with Twitter so I can not say “Send Tweet to …” or “read me my latest mentions,” both of which I would have expected to be there.

Installing software on it is Apple Easy. It is not that using the Android Market was all that hard, it just is that the Apple way is less clicks, less info dumps, more fire and forget. This is great for the average users, but I find it a bit annoying not knowing a bit more about what is happening. The same is true for iTunes syncing and backing up. I have not messed with iCloud because nothing else I run uses iCloud yet, but I suspect I will have the same feeling about it.

General usability is a bit odd to me. This is probably because I am used to thinking like an Android. For example, there is no shortcut that I can find to contacts, I just need to know that I have to go to the phone app, and then click on the contacts tab. Same appears to be true of voice mail, but I have yet to set that up so that might not be fair. Also the lack of a “back” button and lack of a context sensitive “menu” button leave me confused in some of the interfaces on how to move around. This will likely clear up as I get more used to the iOS way of thinking of interface.

The mail app on it is a bit different then that I am used to also. I have two Exchange email boxes set up on it. One is my Gmail account; the other is my Exchange account with my employer (Liberty University). They both work, but all email accounts share one mail icon on the screen so I can not tell which account has a new message. I am used to knowing at a glance which accounts have message waiting, so that will take some adjustment.

The phone is fast and things seem to flow well from click to click assuming you are actually clicking someplace that it expects you to. The screen is beautifully clear, not that my Nexus had a bad screen it also had a great one, but this one does edge it out ever so slightly.

One annoyance is I have yet to be able to figure out how much battery life I have left at any given time. Right now it is plugged in and charging, but I do not know how much it has left to go until it is done and during normal carry it around usage I do not know how to tell how much I have left.

I will skip any thoughts on the look, or how it feels in the hands, because I put mine in an Otterbox Defender case before I walked out of the store. The case is a bit bigger then I expected and might or might not keep it. I am leery of the full glass design of Apple and my habit of breaking things. So I might just have to deal with a bulkier phone then I am used to.

Today I plan to mess with the camera more and will post later how that goes. I also need to set up the voicemail and see how that works. I should probably try making a call or two with and see if it can do the job of a phone. I have been told that the grip of death issues are fixed in this model, bit since mine is in a case that does not apply so cannot say either way.

I would like to say thank you for a well thought out review many android fans would be all you Know iOS sucks and stuff this was a nice review!!!!

 

[jimbo1mcm]

Wait about 3 weeks for a better review

You can't compare apples to oranges( pardon the poor analogy), but the Samsung Galaxy Nexus will be coming out soon. It will have a 4.65inch HD screen and a dual core processor, plus run a pure Android 4.0 ICS. This is the device that should be compared with the IP4S. I think there will be some very interesting results.

 

[VydorScope]

Well I am starting to get used to the phone now and I find I like the fact that the screen displays notifications when locked. Since it is normally on the desk next to me when I am working, I can hear it vibrate glance over and immediately know if it something that I need to handle or ignore.

I am using Siri for texting in the car, something that was preciously a mad rush at stop lights is now easy and smooth. Doubt I will use Siri for much else then that as I am not the kind of person that wants everyone around him to hear everything he does with his phone.

My 8yr old son loves coming up with wacky questions to ask Siri, and is adamant that she should tell knock-knock jokes. He wants to keep trying!

This Otterbox Defender case might just be to big for my tastes, might check out a slimmer case soon.

Still find myself looking for the back button though... Apple really should put it in.

Camera is MUCH faster, very nice. Need to try its burst mode soon and see how that does. I also need to try capturing action and see how that plays out.

I have not messed with video yet, but what I see on youtube makes me think it will do just fine.

 

[eric_n_dfw]

Navigation apps

The lack of free Google turn-by-turn is a missing, but I have found Mapquest's App gives free turn-by-turn that is pretty good.

I like, and have heard many positive reviews of, Motion-X Drive GPS. It has a pay-as-you go, monthly fee structure that is pretty cheap and it's instructions are very good.

 

[lilo777]

I hated clicking purchase, download, then dragging my notifications bar down, waiting to see my app complete download, then complete install. Not to mention sometimes apps wouldn't even download on my Droid. I do like the simplicity of the 4s (any apple product really), I like things to be clean.

I really do not understand this issue. When installing free app all you have to do is:

* Press "Install"
* Read the permissions that applications needs and if you are OK with them press "Accept & download"

At this point you get the download progress bar. Then in the top bar you get the notification that the app has been installed. That's it. Additionally you have an option to click "Allow automatic updating" check mark to allow the application to do automatic updates.

How much easier can it be? Sure on iOS you are not shown the permissions that application asks for perhaps assuming that Apple checked everything for you. Well they don't. Remember the WiFI tethering app masquaraded as a flashlight last year? This would not happened on Android (not that users complained about this app).