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How many of you have actually used an Android phone?
- Thread starter Jb07
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I had the first 3 generations of the iPhone and then switched to the HTC Evo in June 2010 when it came out. I thought it was a really great phone and didn't miss the iPhone at all.
After about 6 months, I started to get the iPhone itch again and decided to switch back to the iPhone 4. I then sold my Evo for enough to cover the ETF with Sprint.
The iPhone has just a smoother overall experience than any Android phone that I've tried. That's the bottom line.
Now, I'm very interested in playing with the Galaxy Nexus when it comes out. If it's as nice as people are speculating, I may be tempted to open another line with Verizon and have two phones. It doesn't really make much sense but we'll see.
After about 6 months, I started to get the iPhone itch again and decided to switch back to the iPhone 4. I then sold my Evo for enough to cover the ETF with Sprint.
The iPhone has just a smoother overall experience than any Android phone that I've tried. That's the bottom line.
Now, I'm very interested in playing with the Galaxy Nexus when it comes out. If it's as nice as people are speculating, I may be tempted to open another line with Verizon and have two phones. It doesn't really make much sense but we'll see.
I had an iPhone 3G. Changed to a HTC Desire, used that for a year, then got a Motorola Defy. Returned it after a week. Used a Nokia feature phone for a year, then eventually went back to a 3GS.
The 3GS is without doubt the best phone I've had. The Desire was OK, but battery life was pretty woeful, and the user experience wasn't good. Using Android on a phone is like using Linux on a computer - nothing works as well as it should.
The Defy was just crap - battery life was ridiculous, I might get to lunchtime if I was lucky. It was slow as hell too, compared to the Desire.
I wouldn't have another Android phone.
The 3GS is without doubt the best phone I've had. The Desire was OK, but battery life was pretty woeful, and the user experience wasn't good. Using Android on a phone is like using Linux on a computer - nothing works as well as it should.
The Defy was just crap - battery life was ridiculous, I might get to lunchtime if I was lucky. It was slow as hell too, compared to the Desire.
I wouldn't have another Android phone.
i had the htc eve 4g which i bought in january 2011 it to say the least was the worst phone i had ever had i wished i could switch back to my old non smartphone the samsung rant
the samsung rant because i had to use it because i lost my eve then found it was much d=fatser searching the internet then my evo!
i had 4g no where and when i was in seattle on vacation the 4g was still incredibly slow the eve i had turned off half the day and used it about 20 minutes a day and it was dead by the end of the day!!!
it was the worst phone eve
i am now on att with the iPhone 4s and am loving it it is great and internet is very fast and there is nothing i could say is bad about it!
!
the samsung rant because i had to use it because i lost my eve then found it was much d=fatser searching the internet then my evo!
i had 4g no where and when i was in seattle on vacation the 4g was still incredibly slow the eve i had turned off half the day and used it about 20 minutes a day and it was dead by the end of the day!!!
it was the worst phone eve
i am now on att with the iPhone 4s and am loving it it is great and internet is very fast and there is nothing i could say is bad about it!
!
I have been using the evo 4g for a while now. The interface can be a bit laggy, and the battery life leaves a lot to be desired. However, I always make it through a typical day with at least 20-30% battery left. The 4g in my area is pretty good: fast and good coverage, but I only turn it on when the speed matters since it can suck battery.
Next year when my contract is up it will be difficult to choose between another android phone and the next iphone incarnation. Although I might just go with an android phone, since I already have an ipad, ipod touch, MBP, and imac (plus Mac Pro at work). Hmmm, when did I accumulate all these apple products....
Next year when my contract is up it will be difficult to choose between another android phone and the next iphone incarnation. Although I might just go with an android phone, since I already have an ipad, ipod touch, MBP, and imac (plus Mac Pro at work). Hmmm, when did I accumulate all these apple products....
A couple of co-workers have had me try to "fix" some issues they had with their samsung phones, so my experience is limited, but...I immediately noticed the lag and the biggest thing that even they comment on between Android and iOS is that they have had to "learn" how to use their phones and they can pick up my iP4 and immediately know how to use it. The user experience for non-techy people or those unwilling to learn Android makes iOS not just seem more polished, but that it was created to address the user - lowest common denominator user.
There are a tremendous amount of people who will never "root" their phone or even know what rooting means. For them, Android may be problematic, especially if they try iOS.
There are a tremendous amount of people who will never "root" their phone or even know what rooting means. For them, Android may be problematic, especially if they try iOS.
I am just curious if any of you on here have actually used an Android phone extensively.
I dont have any of these Android problems like lagginess, bad battery life, etc. on my Samsung Galaxy S Captivate that many people on here use to hate on Android. It is actually very nice, its just not as polished as iOS but it is still a good operating system.
I had an Android HTC "Incredible" for about two years and never had any problems with it. Really long battery life because you could replace the back cover, drop in a honkin' big battery with a cover to accommodate it, and talk for days, seemingly.
I had and used about 40 different Android apps, about the same number I use with my iPhone 4S. The apps I have are about the same quality on the iPhone and the Android. I have tried a lot of iPhone apps that I thought turned out to be absolute crap. Oh, with the Android phone, there are apps that let you control settings directly from the home page, a feature I found very handy.
There are so many iPhone apps that very few of them get seriously reviewed by professional writers or users so when you pay for an app, and I don't mean the 99 cent apps, you're buying a pig in a poke.
In terms of using the devices as phones, I've found no significant differences between the two devices. They're both just a little better than OK. I wish there was a smartphone manufacturer who would spend a lot more development time and money on the phone aspects, and a lot less development time and money on things like built-in cameras, but that's just me.
Finally, I am concerned about the physical fragility of the iPhones. The Android phone I had seemed...sturdier.
As far as fragility goes with the iPhone - I would disagree. It's solid, almost feeling like it's hewn from a block of metal. I haven't held even a single droid that felt even close. Their use of plastic reminds me of the majority of pc's on the market. Weight and solidity are often equated with quality. Of course less weight and solid is also seen as beneficial, to a point. I'd say Apple walks the line extremely well with both the iPhone and their laptops - with the Airs being a perfect example of solid design and lower weight being the new benchmark for what is expected/demanded from a laptop.
I don't know your definition of "extensively," but I used my brother HTC Evo for 3 days. It was OK, but it seemed overly complicated to operate. I was able to get everything done I needed to do, but it just didn't compare to the elegance of iOS. Perhaps the new Android OS will be better. Who knows?
My GF used to have an Android phone from Samsung. She was frustrated all the time with the phone.
She paid termination fee and moved to a carrier with iPhone.
Her mom still has the same Android phone. It took 5 seconds to pair bluetooth headset to iPhone (no manual needed), took 30 minutes with manual to figure it out with Android.
The copycats just went there this year:
http://obamapacman.com/2011/11/samsung-galaxy-player-copies-apple-ipod-touch/
She paid termination fee and moved to a carrier with iPhone.
Her mom still has the same Android phone. It took 5 seconds to pair bluetooth headset to iPhone (no manual needed), took 30 minutes with manual to figure it out with Android.
The copycats just went there this year:
http://obamapacman.com/2011/11/samsung-galaxy-player-copies-apple-ipod-touch/
I have played with and helped out friends and family with their Motorola 4G Verizon phones, Samsung Prevail hunk of junk for Boost Mobile, to a handful of others. Android is a pretty good OS, sometimes for me it is the hardware is not the best, CPU is slow. I think some things like scrolling are not as smooth as with iOS and a few things are not as intuitive. Sometimes it is also about the apps, I was just in Mammoth and you could not get the official Mammoth Mountain app on the android. I believe it will be released soon, but it is small things like that.
EVO
MyTouch4g
Droid X
Thunderbolt
Bionic
All suffered from poor battery life. I would charge these overnight, at work, when I got home and again overnight. Without charging through out the day I would be lucking to get 6 hours before the low battery warning.
The sucky battery life is the only reason I am not still using a Android device. While I don't think Android OS is quite as polished, it can do a lot more then iOS can, even if you jailbreak iOS. Apps for iOS are better, but at least you can get most all apps on android that you can on iOS.
With my 4s, I charge to and from work in the car, about 30 minutes each way.
MyTouch4g
Droid X
Thunderbolt
Bionic
All suffered from poor battery life. I would charge these overnight, at work, when I got home and again overnight. Without charging through out the day I would be lucking to get 6 hours before the low battery warning.
The sucky battery life is the only reason I am not still using a Android device. While I don't think Android OS is quite as polished, it can do a lot more then iOS can, even if you jailbreak iOS. Apps for iOS are better, but at least you can get most all apps on android that you can on iOS.
With my 4s, I charge to and from work in the car, about 30 minutes each way.
I have and use daily my 3 main os. Hp veer 4g webOs, samsung galaxy mini android gingerbread, and of course ip4s ios. However, in the end of the day I still stick with ios.
I have had an iPhone ever since the original one came out. Right before the 4 came out, I gave the HTC Evo a try. After about 20 days with it, I returned it and got the 4.
Yesterday, I just bought the Samsung Galaxy SII Skyrocket. After about 24 hours with it, I think I will be returning it as well. I am just so used to the quality of the iPhone hardware and the polished-ness of iOS. I will get the 4S if (well really, when) I return the Galaxy. I do love the 4.5" screen (just the size) and the Swype keyboard, but that's about it. The screen quality on it is horrible compared to the Retina display I've become accustomed too. Plus, you don't realize how good the iTunes ecosystem is until you have a phone that can't utilize it.
Yesterday, I just bought the Samsung Galaxy SII Skyrocket. After about 24 hours with it, I think I will be returning it as well. I am just so used to the quality of the iPhone hardware and the polished-ness of iOS. I will get the 4S if (well really, when) I return the Galaxy. I do love the 4.5" screen (just the size) and the Swype keyboard, but that's about it. The screen quality on it is horrible compared to the Retina display I've become accustomed too. Plus, you don't realize how good the iTunes ecosystem is until you have a phone that can't utilize it.
Ive played with a hero, wave and a 4.5" one at the AT&T store. I don't get the hate either. Sure iOS is really nice but so is android. It's certainly much better than a non smart phone. My buddy is on sprint and they force updates to his phone periodically which has a few times rendered the phone too slow to use. That's a carrier issue IMO.
I recently got the iPhone 4S after about 18 months with the Droid Incredible. I actually liked many aspects of the Android system, but there are also some real issues.
The lag was really never an issue to me until I got the iPhone and then I realized how often I was waiting for the Droid to catch up with what I was doing. So I would say that the lag, while not a deal breaker, is real. As far as battery life, the iPhone is vastly superior. I know that many HTC phones, and the Droid Incredible in particular, are infamous for their poor power management. I hated rationing my phone usage when I was away from my home or office just to TRY to have my phone make it through the day on a single charge. By comparison I can have a day of heavy use on the iPhone and safely make it through the day without fear of a "power failure."
The key factor for me is the superiority of the Apple ecosystem. The quality of the apps overall far superior to their Android counterparts and there are many more unique (and useful to me) iOS only apps. It is also nice to have such a broad range of accessories available. Yes, Apple's walled garden approach isn't ideal, but every platform involves compromises.
Overall I love the iPhone and I'm happy I have made the switch, but there is one area in which Android blows away the iPhone... the ability to use a third party keyboard. I used SwiftKey on the Droid and it was an "insanely great" product that literally reduced my keystrokes by about 50%. People praising the Apple keyboard have no idea how much better text input can be and hopefully Apple incorporates similar technology into the phone at some point.
The lag was really never an issue to me until I got the iPhone and then I realized how often I was waiting for the Droid to catch up with what I was doing. So I would say that the lag, while not a deal breaker, is real. As far as battery life, the iPhone is vastly superior. I know that many HTC phones, and the Droid Incredible in particular, are infamous for their poor power management. I hated rationing my phone usage when I was away from my home or office just to TRY to have my phone make it through the day on a single charge. By comparison I can have a day of heavy use on the iPhone and safely make it through the day without fear of a "power failure."
The key factor for me is the superiority of the Apple ecosystem. The quality of the apps overall far superior to their Android counterparts and there are many more unique (and useful to me) iOS only apps. It is also nice to have such a broad range of accessories available. Yes, Apple's walled garden approach isn't ideal, but every platform involves compromises.
Overall I love the iPhone and I'm happy I have made the switch, but there is one area in which Android blows away the iPhone... the ability to use a third party keyboard. I used SwiftKey on the Droid and it was an "insanely great" product that literally reduced my keystrokes by about 50%. People praising the Apple keyboard have no idea how much better text input can be and hopefully Apple incorporates similar technology into the phone at some point.
Nah. Apple will come up with a set of "300 Swipes" that translate your thoughts, words, and feelings into a universally accepted set of emoticons that, unfortunately, will only be able to be read by Siri's sister, Bleary.
I had a samsung vibrant for about 3 months and after switching to iphone i cant see myself going back to andorid. lack of support and updates for the phone was just awful. altho it did have strong dev support on xda i grew tired of flashing buggy custom roms. also back then the app store was terrible. it had this ugly green interface, horrible search, and hardly any good games. just a lot of utility type apps, and crapware(wallpaper apps, etc). Also the browser sucked ass.. It had laggy scrolling, and the flash was so slow/unoptimized it was unusable. the live wallpapers and widgets are cool, but they caused major slowdown on the already laggy phone so i ended up disabling both and just using static wallpaper and icons on home-screen. also Samsung bulid quality on their phones is terrible.
While the phone may have looked good it felt like cheap slippery plastic that would crack if it fell hard enough. also the phone would overheat a lot causing my palms to sweat. Oh and i tried to use it as an mp3 player and that was a fail.. the internal volume was so low through the headphones it was a travesty, i had to download battery sucking apps from the android market just to boost the volume of the phone. then theres touchwiz ui.. while not that bad its such a blatant rip-off of ios it wasnt even funny.. from the iphone homescreen app drawer to the iphone inspired icons it was just very unnapealing to me. if i wanted an iphone i would of bought one, i dont see the point of trying to use a skin to make their phone look like a good phone when in reality it was a pos that didnt really compare. I did like a few things about the fascinate tho the native video player was good, it could play damn near any file i threw at flawlessly.. avi, mkv, you name it! also the android market had emulators and stuff that you could download i thought that was pretty cool.
Also the screen was good, the colors were very oversaturated, but i didnt really mind because the phone gave true deep blacks. anyway thats just my experience. hate it or love it Its gonna be a whle before androi gets the stability and overall polish of ios. so many devices coming out, by so many different manufactures its hard to keep android polished because manufacturers want to add all these crap skins etc to the firmware when they should focus on improving other areas of the OS. ICS is a very nice update that fixes a majority of the problems i had with my fascinate it would seem, so thats good. maybe by this time next year Android will have the polish, reliability and stability of IOS. I hope so because its good for competition, and if apple ever pulls an "s" again i wont have to be so reluctant to try another OS.
While the phone may have looked good it felt like cheap slippery plastic that would crack if it fell hard enough. also the phone would overheat a lot causing my palms to sweat. Oh and i tried to use it as an mp3 player and that was a fail.. the internal volume was so low through the headphones it was a travesty, i had to download battery sucking apps from the android market just to boost the volume of the phone. then theres touchwiz ui.. while not that bad its such a blatant rip-off of ios it wasnt even funny.. from the iphone homescreen app drawer to the iphone inspired icons it was just very unnapealing to me. if i wanted an iphone i would of bought one, i dont see the point of trying to use a skin to make their phone look like a good phone when in reality it was a pos that didnt really compare. I did like a few things about the fascinate tho
the native video player was good, it could play damn near any file i threw at flawlessly.. avi, mkv, you name it! also the android market had emulators and stuff that you could download i thought that was pretty cool. Also the screen was good, the colors were very oversaturated, but i didnt really mind because the phone gave true deep blacks. anyway thats just my experience. hate it or love it Its gonna be a whle before androi gets the stability and overall polish of ios. so many devices coming out, by so many different manufactures its hard to keep android polished because manufacturers want to add all these crap skins etc to the firmware when they should focus on improving other areas of the OS. ICS is a very nice update that fixes a majority of the problems i had with my fascinate it would seem, so thats good. maybe by this time next year Android will have the polish, reliability and stability of IOS. I hope so because its good for competition, and if apple ever pulls an "s" again i wont have to be so reluctant to try another OS.
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For very brief periods of time, I have used the following devices:
HTC Inspire (When I was on AT&T)
HTC Droid Incredible
Google Nexus One
The Nexus One is the only Andriod phone that I didn't get tired of after a week (it was more like two weeks). But mainly I just wanted to see what the Android experience was all about. Needless to say, I was not impressed in the least. I'm too much in love with my iPhone 4 because it just works.
If the iPhone never existed, I would probably have an Android phone right now, but luckily Apple created a great device. So thanks but no thanks Android.
HTC Inspire (When I was on AT&T)
HTC Droid Incredible
Google Nexus One
The Nexus One is the only Andriod phone that I didn't get tired of after a week (it was more like two weeks). But mainly I just wanted to see what the Android experience was all about. Needless to say, I was not impressed in the least. I'm too much in love with my iPhone 4 because it just works.
If the iPhone never existed, I would probably have an Android phone right now, but luckily Apple created a great device. So thanks but no thanks Android.
I've used plenty of Android devices for long periods of time, including the "latest and greatest" so to speak.
I have a few friends that work at Verizon and they're always bringing their phones over to show me because they think for some reason they will get me to switch to Android. I use them, I play around with them, I'll even load programs I wrote on to them to test performance, and then thats when my friends see that regardless of the hardware, its the software that is the weakness*.
First, let me say I'd LOVE to release the game I'm working on on both platforms, hence why I am glad my friends let me play with their phones, but its not doable with a satisfactory performance, here is why:
Android is open source. (Although for the most part its really only open source to the OEMs.)
Secondly, open source software, while great, has a major weakness and that is fragmentation. Android is fragmented like you wouldn't believe, and google hasn't done anything yet to stem this. Sure Ice Cream Sandwich is to help with this, but there is still the issue of the sheer amount of hardware out there. Dev's have to dig through each releases documentation and make sure everything is compatible, and thats just with the software. Who knows if it will all be compatible with the hardware.
I know some people try and say "Apple iOS is fragmented too!" but those people don't know anything about software development if they think that iOS is anywhere close to Android as far as fragmentation.
Third, the hardware is usually not that great. Android handset manufacturers are too busy pushing useless hardware specs, and not focused enough on important things (like battery life) in a phone. My friends couldn't grasp the concept that their dual core whatever phones (sorry the specs of each phone are at home) couldn't keep pace with an iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPad, and iPad 2 in a simple graphics test.
Fourth, multiple app stores are a mess. I do like how Google created a main one, but its not the only one and thats kind of messy.
Theres lots more I can list but its at risk of becoming a tl;dr. I will say for me to spend time and make something for Android I'd need to see Google do this:
1.Enforce minimum hardware, performance, and screen size requirements for devices to run Android.
2.Put all app stores under the main roof.
3.Require OEMs to update Android for a minimum of 2 years per handset (I know an 18 month requirement is in the works).
As for the glitches you never experienced OP, be glad. There is not a friend I have with an Android phone who hasn't complained about it crashing, slowing down, having a bad battery life, or being laggy. I won't say this is Googles fault, because vanilla Android is much better than what comes on most phones, I blame the OEM's on this one because of their Android mods and they make the hardware.
*Games are what I primarily make and there is a big difference in performance between Android and iOS in that regard, with iOS performing much better. For regular apps, it won't matter much but your Android phones battery will deplete much quicker because its potentially pushing more hardware depending on the phone.
EDIT: This is to support my point about fragmentation. Out of these I'm curious how many people can't upgrade to the latest software due to lack of OEM support: http://developer.android.com/resources/dashboard/platform-versions.html
I have a few friends that work at Verizon and they're always bringing their phones over to show me because they think for some reason they will get me to switch to Android. I use them, I play around with them, I'll even load programs I wrote on to them to test performance, and then thats when my friends see that regardless of the hardware, its the software that is the weakness*.
First, let me say I'd LOVE to release the game I'm working on on both platforms, hence why I am glad my friends let me play with their phones, but its not doable with a satisfactory performance, here is why:
Android is open source. (Although for the most part its really only open source to the OEMs.)
Secondly, open source software, while great, has a major weakness and that is fragmentation. Android is fragmented like you wouldn't believe, and google hasn't done anything yet to stem this. Sure Ice Cream Sandwich is to help with this, but there is still the issue of the sheer amount of hardware out there. Dev's have to dig through each releases documentation and make sure everything is compatible, and thats just with the software. Who knows if it will all be compatible with the hardware.
I know some people try and say "Apple iOS is fragmented too!" but those people don't know anything about software development if they think that iOS is anywhere close to Android as far as fragmentation.
Third, the hardware is usually not that great. Android handset manufacturers are too busy pushing useless hardware specs, and not focused enough on important things (like battery life) in a phone. My friends couldn't grasp the concept that their dual core whatever phones (sorry the specs of each phone are at home) couldn't keep pace with an iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPad, and iPad 2 in a simple graphics test.
Fourth, multiple app stores are a mess. I do like how Google created a main one, but its not the only one and thats kind of messy.
Theres lots more I can list but its at risk of becoming a tl;dr. I will say for me to spend time and make something for Android I'd need to see Google do this:
1.Enforce minimum hardware, performance, and screen size requirements for devices to run Android.
2.Put all app stores under the main roof.
3.Require OEMs to update Android for a minimum of 2 years per handset (I know an 18 month requirement is in the works).
As for the glitches you never experienced OP, be glad. There is not a friend I have with an Android phone who hasn't complained about it crashing, slowing down, having a bad battery life, or being laggy. I won't say this is Googles fault, because vanilla Android is much better than what comes on most phones, I blame the OEM's on this one because of their Android mods and they make the hardware.
*Games are what I primarily make and there is a big difference in performance between Android and iOS in that regard, with iOS performing much better. For regular apps, it won't matter much but your Android phones battery will deplete much quicker because its potentially pushing more hardware depending on the phone.
EDIT: This is to support my point about fragmentation. Out of these I'm curious how many people can't upgrade to the latest software due to lack of OEM support: http://developer.android.com/resources/dashboard/platform-versions.html
My first smartphone was a Treo, then a later Treo, then three Windows Mobile phones then an Android phone and now an iPhone. (Which is why I find it amusing when some people think Apple invented touchscreen smartphones - I'd been using four generations of them before the iPhone 1 was launched.)
There are pros & cons to each, but overall - up until the 4S was launched - I would say they were about equal. The only reason I switched to an iPhone was that I bought an iPad and it made sense to have a phone that could run the same apps and be powered by the same chargers.
However, Siri is a game-changer for me. Location-based reminders are fantastic, and I do almost everything via voice. It was the reason I upgraded to the 4S, and is the reason I'd strongly recommend an iPhone over an Android handset at present.
There are pros & cons to each, but overall - up until the 4S was launched - I would say they were about equal. The only reason I switched to an iPhone was that I bought an iPad and it made sense to have a phone that could run the same apps and be powered by the same chargers.
However, Siri is a game-changer for me. Location-based reminders are fantastic, and I do almost everything via voice. It was the reason I upgraded to the 4S, and is the reason I'd strongly recommend an iPhone over an Android handset at present.
I had a droid X before the iphone 4 on Verizon. I honestly loved the phone. It had great battery life after I rooted and undervolted it. I liked how I could customize everything on it as well. The thing that pissed me off though, was how many times the damn thing would restart or freeze. That is probably the only reason why I switched back to the iphone. The iphone has the best otb experience of any phone imo. I love my iphone as well, because it is dependable and has a great music player. However I am bored with it.
I am going to give the galaxy nexus a try when it launches on verizon. I will be keeping my iphone, of course, incase I dont like it. I think both os's are awesome, and I will always have a hard time choosing what I really want.
I am going to give the galaxy nexus a try when it launches on verizon. I will be keeping my iphone, of course, incase I dont like it. I think both os's are awesome, and I will always have a hard time choosing what I really want.
Call me picky, call me silly, but the damn scrolling, and sometimes zooming, on Android is what's kept me far, far away. It's just so clunky and jittery. Apple really has touch-screen tech nailed down.
Every single Android phone I've played with has terrible scrolling qualities.
Every single Android phone I've played with has terrible scrolling qualities.