I just got an iPhone 4s with my Sprint Account. This is my 4th "smartphone" since I am coming from a Palm Centro, Palm Pre, and lastly an LG Optimus. I also used to be a pocket pc user. I aslo have a 2nd generation ipod touch.
I got this iPhone after a little negotiating with Sprint after a series of escalating issues with my LG Optimus on Android, even though my upgrade date is Jan 2012. I got really lucky and picked up the last 32GB in black at the sprint store on Monday.
The final straw for me with the Android phone? After the 2.3 upgrade, things started exploding. Mainly battery life and charging. These are 2 of my number ones. I need to be able to charge my phone from my computer or car (this broke with the upgrade). And the battery decreased from about 18 hours to 6. Yup 6, with no ability to charge away from the wall charger. Combine that with 5 hard resets since June and you can understand why I was ready to throw that lemon away (3rd replacement phone.)
Here are my critical uses for my phone:
email: gmail and exchange for work
calendar: visibility and reminders
phone: mostly when I am mobile or at my office that is sort of like a co-working space
navigation: I never remember where things are
social apps: facebook, twitter
reading: rss, nook, newspapers
music: backup for my ipod shuffle at the gym, pandora
apps: evernote, dropbox, mint, google voice
photos: my digital camera is never around when i need it and i always forget to charge it. My phone is my stand-in.
I need a phone that can last all day with light use, and space for a few casual games. I can sacrifice a few features as long as the phone lasts all day.
For my next phone I ruled out many of the available Androids because frankly they were far too large. I need something hand friendly, since I typically hold my phone up to my face for talking and like to hold it one handed to operate. Pocketability is important too.
So I thought I'd launch a quick comparison, pros and cons to each of the mobile OSes I have used and give some tips to the switchers.
Android pros:
WebOS Pros
So far I am pretty happy with my iphone. At the end I'll share my beefs.
I had ruled out the iPhone for the past couple of years for a few key reasons: navigation, notifications and size
Apple really bests all of the other phones on the touch screen keyboard. I find it very fast and accurate compared with other touch screens. I have tried them all, and it is really easy to get adjusted and type fast on an iphone.
The iOS user interface is very clean and intuitive. Most settings I was able to figure our right away, although it took a little while to figure out how to add a second email account. I was happy to see that my icloud/former mac.com address reactivated itself immediately when I setup iCloud. I haven't been on .me for about 3 years now.
I uncovered a whole ton of cool new features when holding down the home button, from the quick app launcher for the recent apps and of course the new camera access from the launch screen. I also like the new app folders, and I was able to clean up my desktop quickly.
I was happy to see my ipod touch apps sync over when I connected to my computer as there were quite a few games I really liked that I had installed.
With the new and improved notification center, I am actually able to use an iPhone. If this wasn't announced, I would have stayed in the android camp -- even though it is lacking the polish of iOS. This was a must have for me.
I was pretty excited about Siri, even though Androids have similar functionality. I only used the voice dial occasionally on my android because since it got confused way too easily. I found the accuracy to be lacking a bit. Siri and the voice dictation by comparison are very good. I have created a ton of reminders and tried out quite a few interesting features from adding stuff to my calendar, finding emails and playing music. This is a game changer for me.
I know a lot of people have beef with iOSes lack of customization options, but for me this isn't very important. Over time I started to find Android a lot like using a PC. You need to do a lot of tinkering to get things right. Considering I spend all day on my computer and helping my clients troubleshoot their web apps, the last thing I want to do is tinker with my phone. I want to use my phone to consume content, not my time.
I am pretty happy so far, but I still have lots to figure out. Happy to get access to the apps that weren't available on Android or WebOS. And surprisingly, since the screen is so crisp, I might actually watch a few videos on my phone. I am starting to understand the appeal. Browsing the web is surprisingly pleasant as well.
Now for my beefs
iPhone Beefs
At the moment, none of these beefs are enough to drop the phone altogether, but only time will tell. Right now I am enjoying the polished feel and experience of iOS.
I got this iPhone after a little negotiating with Sprint after a series of escalating issues with my LG Optimus on Android, even though my upgrade date is Jan 2012. I got really lucky and picked up the last 32GB in black at the sprint store on Monday.
The final straw for me with the Android phone? After the 2.3 upgrade, things started exploding. Mainly battery life and charging. These are 2 of my number ones. I need to be able to charge my phone from my computer or car (this broke with the upgrade). And the battery decreased from about 18 hours to 6. Yup 6, with no ability to charge away from the wall charger. Combine that with 5 hard resets since June and you can understand why I was ready to throw that lemon away (3rd replacement phone.)
Here are my critical uses for my phone:
email: gmail and exchange for work
calendar: visibility and reminders
phone: mostly when I am mobile or at my office that is sort of like a co-working space
navigation: I never remember where things are
social apps: facebook, twitter
reading: rss, nook, newspapers
music: backup for my ipod shuffle at the gym, pandora
apps: evernote, dropbox, mint, google voice
photos: my digital camera is never around when i need it and i always forget to charge it. My phone is my stand-in.
I need a phone that can last all day with light use, and space for a few casual games. I can sacrifice a few features as long as the phone lasts all day.
For my next phone I ruled out many of the available Androids because frankly they were far too large. I need something hand friendly, since I typically hold my phone up to my face for talking and like to hold it one handed to operate. Pocketability is important too.
So I thought I'd launch a quick comparison, pros and cons to each of the mobile OSes I have used and give some tips to the switchers.
Android pros:
- Passcode options (I love the pattern option!)
- dedicated hardware buttons for the camera
- voice web search shortcut
- google apps integration
- customization and widgets
- Contacts appended with Facebook data
- maps navigation
WebOS Pros
- Palm Account for account settings and apps
- Notifications
- Task Switching and multi-tasking
- Unified contacts with Social media
- Gestures for closing and switching apps
- Calendar (I absolutely loved the "contact attendees button on a reminder that defaulted to an email with running late in the body)
- Easy built in search of the phone and the web (I found this to be superior to the android implementation)
- snooze button for reminders, just like on your computer
So far I am pretty happy with my iphone. At the end I'll share my beefs.
I had ruled out the iPhone for the past couple of years for a few key reasons: navigation, notifications and size
Apple really bests all of the other phones on the touch screen keyboard. I find it very fast and accurate compared with other touch screens. I have tried them all, and it is really easy to get adjusted and type fast on an iphone.
The iOS user interface is very clean and intuitive. Most settings I was able to figure our right away, although it took a little while to figure out how to add a second email account. I was happy to see that my icloud/former mac.com address reactivated itself immediately when I setup iCloud. I haven't been on .me for about 3 years now.
I uncovered a whole ton of cool new features when holding down the home button, from the quick app launcher for the recent apps and of course the new camera access from the launch screen. I also like the new app folders, and I was able to clean up my desktop quickly.
I was happy to see my ipod touch apps sync over when I connected to my computer as there were quite a few games I really liked that I had installed.
With the new and improved notification center, I am actually able to use an iPhone. If this wasn't announced, I would have stayed in the android camp -- even though it is lacking the polish of iOS. This was a must have for me.
I was pretty excited about Siri, even though Androids have similar functionality. I only used the voice dial occasionally on my android because since it got confused way too easily. I found the accuracy to be lacking a bit. Siri and the voice dictation by comparison are very good. I have created a ton of reminders and tried out quite a few interesting features from adding stuff to my calendar, finding emails and playing music. This is a game changer for me.
I know a lot of people have beef with iOSes lack of customization options, but for me this isn't very important. Over time I started to find Android a lot like using a PC. You need to do a lot of tinkering to get things right. Considering I spend all day on my computer and helping my clients troubleshoot their web apps, the last thing I want to do is tinker with my phone. I want to use my phone to consume content, not my time.
I am pretty happy so far, but I still have lots to figure out. Happy to get access to the apps that weren't available on Android or WebOS. And surprisingly, since the screen is so crisp, I might actually watch a few videos on my phone. I am starting to understand the appeal. Browsing the web is surprisingly pleasant as well.
Now for my beefs
iPhone Beefs
- No ability to create email attachments
- Lots of clicks to navigate the UI
- No gestures to switch apps
- No option for different signatures by email address
- Email search isn't very obvious
- Where is the snooze button for reminders?
- Can't switch contact accounts from exchange to gmail/etc
- Default gmail config does not support contacts
- No native google reader app
- Battery life feels short (not sure if it is me, the phone or the new factor. Only time will tell.)
At the moment, none of these beefs are enough to drop the phone altogether, but only time will tell. Right now I am enjoying the polished feel and experience of iOS.
