Thinking about making the switch to iOS..

[blakjak220]

OK, so I've had Android for a little over 2 years (An original Evo 4G and now a Galaxy S2) and I've really like them both.
But I've decided that if the iPhone 5 has certain features I might like to switch over... features being: at least a 4 in screen, no glass on the back.. everything else just depends on iO6.

I'm afraid I'll miss some of the customization and file-managing ability that I like in Android..
The only problem is that it seems like all the "new" stuff in iOS6 are things that Android has had forever... facebook integration, notification pull down, widgets, video chat over 3g, etc...
I've had friends with iphones that seem to have problems when it comes to PDF's and word documents - downloading, saving, managing locations, editing, etc... maybe that was just them and not the phone, I don't know.

And no, I'm not a troll.. I just want to hear from anyone that has had a long history in Android (and that likes rooting and customizing) to help me out and tell me why they're glad (or sad) that they switched.

Also, I'll prolly be switching carriers as well... Sprint service has gotten almost unusable over the last year and after my experience with the Evo4G and never getting 4G service in my area.. I'll never buy a phone that has a radio in it that the carrier doesn't currently support.

Fire away and thanks for the input. - Oh, and my alternative if I don't go iPhone will probably be a SGS3.. or just wait.

 

[VulchR]

I've never had an issue with PDF's on the iPhone and I use them regularly (mostly scientific and work papers). GoodReader handles them nicely, even encrypted PDF's. As for the rest of the iPhone's features I think it boils down personal preference. Android does seem to be adding more and more capabilities, and the hardware gets better all the time, but in my opinion Android is just not as elegant as iOS (yet). In any case, all I can say is that I am happy with my 4S and don't really see anything compelling about Android that would make me want to switch. I would wait to see what the next iPhone looks like before you become committed to buying one system over the other.

I hope that people who answer your thread provide useful information rather than engaging in arguments.

 

[nuckinfutz]

iOS is all about the apps.

Apple doesn't spend a lot of effort on trying to keep you outside of an app and looking at the OS. This is a fundamental difference between the two platform.

iOS is about delivering better experiences within apps. Siri is one of the few departures from this ideology and this is likely a temporal one as eventually developers will get invited to the party.

Stuff has to work properly in iOS or Apple and devs hear about it. The focus isn't on stuffing a marketing sheet with features. It's about delivering features that actually work and can be used.

When I look at my iPhone 4 it handles what I throw at it pretty amazing since it's really a 2 year old platform.

The downside is that if you are really tweaky you're going to have to work a bit harder to tweak your system. Forget about toggle and things that require a lot of human interaction and micro management. This is an anathema to Apples philosophy. Apple works hard on power management features so that we don't have to worry about it.

 

[blakjak220]

I've never had an issue with PDF's on the iPhone and I use them regularly (mostly scientific and work papers). GoodReader handles them nicely, even encrypted PDF's. As for the rest of the iPhone's features I think it boils down personal preference. Android does seem to be adding more and more capabilities, and the hardware gets better all the time, but in my opinion Android is just not as elegant as iOS (yet). In any case, all I can say is that I am happy with my 4S and don't really see anything compelling about Android that would make me want to switch. I would wait to see what the next iPhone looks like before you become committed to buying one system over the other.

I hope that people who answer your thread provide useful information rather than engaging in arguments.

Thanks man, I was worried about the document management since I use them all the time but as long as its doable that's cool.
Another thing I just thought of... since Flash isn't going to be supported on any of the newer versions of Android.. how much of a pain in the butt is not having Flash when ur surfing the net? How often do you come across something that you need or want to watch and just can't?

And yeah... I'm hoping this stays constructive and doesn't turn into an Apple vs Android fight... I'm not a fanboy of anything.. I just want the best experience for my money and I don't care which platform it is.

 

[nuckinfutz]

Coming across sites that have created a nice HTML5 video in lieu of Flash is becoming more common. Now it's not just about iDevice users since Adobe has killed Flash on Mobile every website need to take heed of their mobile fanbase.

 

[jdlindsey7]

Thanks man, I was worried about the document management since I use them all the time but as long as its doable that's cool.
Another thing I just thought of... since Flash isn't going to be supported on any of the newer versions of Android.. how much of a pain in the butt is not having Flash when ur surfing the net? How often do you come across something that you need or want to watch and just can't?

And yeah... I'm hoping this stays constructive and doesn't turn into an Apple vs Android fight... I'm not a fanboy of anything.. I just want the best experience for my money and I don't care which platform it is.

Dropbox is a great tool for managing documents on your iPhone, iPad, and computer. Flash is rarely a problem for me. Besides, I think I read that android is losing flash integrations in he near future ago.

 

[Technarchy]

You wont miss flash.

In fact, you'll quickly learn that iOS gives the best content and experience using apps. The browser is just a tool in the box, but it's not the best method for content delivery.

I use Safari very little on my phone. Most of the time I am in an app.

 

[blakjak220]

Dropbox is a great tool for managing documents on your iPhone, iPad, and computer. Flash is rarely a problem for me. Besides, I think I read that android is losing flash integrations in he near future ago.

I already use dropbox some so that's good.. .and yeah, like I said in my post, Adobe won't be updating Flash for any more versions of Android.. so I guess the other poster is right.. Websites will have to take notice and finally start using HTML5

----------

You wont miss flash.

In fact, you'll quickly learn that iOS gives the best content and experience using apps. The browser is just a tool in the box, but it's not the best method for content delivery.

I use Safari very little on my phone. Most of the time I am in an app.

I didn't think about that... But I do use the browser a lot on Android, especially when I click links in other things. But I get what you're saying, and the fact that Apple still has a better selection of mainstream apps makes it a little easier to always just use an app.

I guess my main thing is that it seems like iOS6 will finally have enough of the basic UI things I use on Android that it would be worth the switch... iOS has always been smoother and more consistent with updates and stuff, it's just the lack of UI customization that's held me back before now..

 

[Technarchy]

I guess my main thing is that it seems like iOS6 will finally have enough of the basic UI things I use on Android that it would be worth the switch... iOS has always been smoother and more consistent with updates and stuff, it's just the lack of UI customization that's held me back before now..

When I had android, I was far more browser dependent as well.

I was at first with iOS too, but that changed quickly.

 

[blakjak220]

When I had android, I was far more browser dependent as well.

I was at first with iOS too, but that changed quickly.

So how long were you on Android and what version of iPhone did you switch to? No regrets?

 

[Technarchy]

So how long were you on Android and what version of iPhone did you switch to? No regrets?

Android for 3 years.

Got an iPhone 4S.

Absolutely no regrets. All I've realized is that I should have gotten an iPhone sooner.

 

[blakjak220]

Android for 3 years.

Got an iPhone 4S.

Absolutely no regrets. All I've realized is that I should have gotten an iPhone sooner.

lol... yeah, I've had fun hacking and such on the Android but I think I just want a phone that works and not have to worry about it. I'm hoping the iPhone 5 lives up to the rumors with the larger screen and metal case, I won't buy anything smaller than a 4" screen and I don't want something with 2 sides of glass...

 

[batting1000]

Most recently, I had the Evo 4G --> Nexus S 4G --> iPhone 4S --> Epic 4G Touch --> iPhone 4S. I had the 4S for a couple months before the EpiC 4G Touch and then I went back to the 4S a few months ago. Really try to read this...

--

The reasons why I switched were common sense to me. The iPhone 4S offered a better and higher quality selection of apps. While I had the Evo 4G and the Nexus S 4G, I also had an iPod touch 4th gen so I had a good idea of the app selection on both. When I got the 4S after the Nexus I had gotten rid of the iPod so all my apps carried over. Now when I jumped to the Epic, I found the apps that I had on the iPhone / iPod were either no where to be found on the Android app store, were there but weren't as high quality and crashed often, or there were alternatives which were sub par. I found that apps were not as high quality and didn't work as well / didn't look as good as they did on the iPhone. Apps overall work and look a lot better on the iPhone and there's more to choose from. The Play Store has an ok selection, but developers have to attempt to make their app compatible with such a huge variety of apps that they don't always work so well.

Then there's consistency. With Android, you might open some apps and they'll load fine then you'll go and open maybe a 3rd party app and it'll either crash at some point or it'll take significantly longer to open than another app, and if there's a crashing issue with the app, the developer may take a few days or a week or two to fix it. With the iPhone, the entire experience is consistent, as is the devices performance. You'll open maybe Settings or OmniFocus, or Mail and it'll take the same time to load each time. You'll have a smooth interface with no lag whatsoever and you'll have an overall stable OS. If there's a bug or a crashing issue with an app, the dev is all over it and may even release a new version that same day or the next day. It's the same with battery. Battery life is pretty consistent a pretty good. You want have 5 hrs of usage one day then 1 and a half tomorrow. I bet you 75 percent of Android users have some sort of task manager / killer or some battery monitoring application and it's obvious way.

Finally, there's customer and device support. With Android, if you've got a cracked screen or some other hardware issue, you'll more than likely have to pay for a replacement which might even be tough if you can't really pay for a new one. With Android devices, it's not like you can walk into a Google store or an HTC store (Samsung stores are out there but there's not many of them) and get support because there are none. If you're lucky, Best Buy or your carrier will get you a free phone or you can pay a fee for it to be fixed. With Apple and iOS devices, if you've got a cracked screen, bad battery or whatever, you can walk into an Apple store and 100% of the time, you'll get a really nice employee who will 99.9% of the replace the device for you or offer to fix it for free (they usually do a replacement for free the first time you have an issue they can't fix). You get genuine support with Apple. Then there's software. With Android, you'll be lucky if you get more than 1 or two "major" software updates. I read this in another thread:

The fact that Google is pushing Jelly Bean and ICS barely has double digit penetration is utterly pathetic, hinders app development and ruins the user experience in a huge way.

It's the truth. There aren't very many Android devices on Android 4.0 and Google is already starting to push Android 4.1. You're first getting settled into Android 4.0 and you think you've got the latest OS, but Google is already ready with 4.1. The Epic 4G Touch just got Android 4.0.4 two days ago and Android 4.1 started pushing to GSM Nexuses Tuesday! With the iPhone, you're pretty much guaranteed to get AT LEAST 2 or 3 major upgrades, whether you get 100% of the features or some, you're still being supported by Apple. There are no "Value Pack" updates from Apple like Samsung did with the Galaxy S1. The 3 year old 3GS is still being supported with iOS 6. This is important because you want the device to be worth the money you spent on it the day you bought it and the money you spend on it each month till that contract is up.

--

Now you're probably thinking:

Android haz widgets!!!!!!!! Why would I want iOS????

Please, how much time do you *really* spend on your home screen using the widgets. Even if you use widgets, you're still likely to go into the app anyway to do something widget can't. All widgets do is waste battery and RAM. Sure, that weather icon looks nice and you're retro clock looks great, but you've already got a nice clock in the status bar that does the same thing.

You can customize Android more!!!!

That's cool, but if you're gonna get a phone JUST because it's more customizable, that's a bit peculiar. If moving around your icons and changing your wallpapers isn't enough, stay on Android.

It's funny because most Android users have to root their device JUST to get the latest OS or even to get better battery life. I don't have to worry about my 4S because I know it truly does just works, whether it be stability-wise, performance-wise, and app-wise. Don't get me wrong, the Galaxy Nexus, S3, HTC One X, Nexus 7, and others look nice, but so does the iPhone 4S because it all just works right and well. There's other stuff than what's above, but these are the most important to me.

Anyway, just my 2 cents.

 

[blakjak220]

Most recently, I had the Evo 4G --> Nexus S 4G --> iPhone 4S --> Epic 4G Touch --> iPhone 4S. I had the 4S for a couple months before the EpiC 4G Touch and then I went back to the 4S a few months ago. Really try to read this...

--

The reasons why I switched were common sense to me. .........[]

It's funny because most Android users have to root their device JUST to get the latest OS or even to get better battery life. I don't have to worry about my 4S because I know it truly does just works, whether it be stability-wise, performance-wise, and app-wise. Don't get me wrong, the Galaxy Nexus, S3, HTC One X, Nexus 7, and others look nice, but so does the iPhone 4S because it all just works right and well. There's other stuff than what's above, but these are the most important to me.

Anyway, just my 2 cents.

Yeah, I think having this Epic4G touch and STILL not seeing ICS is one of the big reasons I'm kinda getting tired of Android.. In fact, I think the fragmentation of Android is it's biggest flaw... thanks for the thoughts..

 

[batting1000]

Yeah, I think having this Epic4G touch and STILL not seeing ICS is one of the big reasons I'm kinda getting tired of Android.. In fact, I think the fragmentation of Android is it's biggest flaw... thanks for the thoughts..

Well it's being rolled out now, but it's really not that much of an upgrade honestly. I was using the leaks before I went back to the iPhone and it was really just small UI tweaks.

 

[blakjak220]

Well it's being rolled out now, but it's really not that much of an upgrade honestly. I was using the leaks before I went back to the iPhone and it was really just small UI tweaks.

Well I've tried a few ICS ROMS on it and I did like some of the new tweaks (the volume controls, the notification power toggles and such) but having to worry about bricking the stupid thing flashing an ICS ROM just isnt worth it anymore. And I've always preferred pure Android over Samsung or HTC's interpretation but it just seems like the Nexus phones dont have as good of hardware/cameras as the other manufacturers...

 

[batting1000]

Well I've tried a few ICS ROMS on it and I did like some of the new tweaks (the volume controls, the notification power toggles and such) but having to worry about bricking the stupid thing flashing an ICS ROM just isnt worth it anymore. And I've always preferred pure Android over Samsung or HTC's interpretation but it just seems like the Nexus phones dont have as good of hardware/cameras as the other manufacturers...

Yeah. I prefer stock Android as well, but I have to admit the new TouchWiz looks pretty good. Unfortunately the Nexus has an abysmal 5 megapixel camera.

 

[blakjak220]

Yeah. I prefer stock Android as well, but I have to admit the new TouchWiz looks pretty good. Unfortunately the Nexus has an abysmal 5 megapixel camera.

I've gotten so tired of TW that I've just been using GoLauncher for about the last 3 months... And the fact that the update to ICS brought NO cosmetic change to TW was a little irritating...

 

[batting1000]

I've gotten so tired of TW that I've just been using GoLauncher for about the last 3 months... And the fact that the update to ICS brought NO cosmetic change to TW was a little irritating...

Go Launcher is just as bad...

 

[Six8]

Don't do it

 

[blakjak220]

Go Launcher is just as bad...

I don't have any problems with it.. it isn't always quite as smooth as stock TW was but I can put stuff where I want it, change the size of icons, icon labels and what not. And I like the GoSMS quite a bit..

But the whole reason I'm on this forum is because I'm just kinda fed up with the Android problem of never getting updates and stuff... guess I could get a Nexus but none of those are really up to snuff hardware wise in my opinion..

 

[Dontazemebro]

OP, here's an interesting article you might want to read. I think android gets a bad rap from it's early predecessors and not enough credit for how far along it has come in such a sort time.

www.forbes.com/sites/tomiogeron/2012/02/02/does-ios-crash-more-than-android-a-data-dive/

 

[tbayrgs]

I've been using Android full time for the past few days, first ICS and now today JB on a Galaxy Nexus and I could probably ramble on for quite a while about my first impreessions but I'll try to briefly summarize why I won't switch over full time to Android. There a a lot of things that I like in Android and can certainly understand the attraction that leads many to prefer it--customization and flexibility alone are far ahead of iOS. Android devices really are far closer to being fully functional handheld computers than an iOS device. The problem for me though is they falter inside an Apple ecosystem and I have to sacrifice too much functionality in this regard. I'll try to explain:

1). Poor integraton with iCloud. Our home has 7 devices sharing information via iCloud and out of the box Android cannot replace this functionality--I had to use two third party apps for Calendar and Contact syncing and there is no automatic syncing via push. I know I can use Google services but don't want to have to reconfigure 6 other devices to do so. I also lose Find My iPhone functionality and can't sync my reminders.

2). No AirPlay. We have TVs scattered throughout our house and use AirPlay quite a bit, either to share video, music or play games with my kids. Also, no Remote app. I'm sure there are third party apps in Android that my work but not as well as Apple's app.

3). No iMessage. I use this a ton--most of my messages are to other Apple devices so it's allowed me to keep my grandfathered text plan of only 200 texts/month. My daughter and son also send me messages via iMessage from their iPod and iPad.

4). Cost of apps. I realize this is my own doing living in an Apple world for the past few years but switching to Android would necessitate repurchasing a lot of apps.

5). A bunch of little things--don't know another way to explain it. First is just the feel of the OS and the apps. On iOS everything just feels and looks better. Any of the apps I've used on both systems just feel more polished and sophisticated on iOS--only way I can really explain it. Another example--switching audio output on the iPhone is a breeze. Doing the same thing in Android requires that I shut off bluetooth and then restart it.

These things alone outweigh the advantages offered by Android for my specific needs. I won't deny that Android offered greater overall functionality than iOS but it just doesn't fulfill my needs as well. I'll continue to play with it over the next few months until the next iPhone comes out but don't anticipate a full switch. Just my $0.02.

 

[blakjak220]

OP, here's an interesting article you might want to read. I think android gets a bad rap from it's early predecessors and not enough credit for how far along it has come in such a sort time.

www.forbes.com/sites/tomiogeron/2012/02/02/does-ios-crash-more-than-android-a-data-dive/

Yeah, you're right. Most of the posts I see where someone complains about Android they were using older versions on lower-end phones... And Android OS needs enough RAM and processing power to be smooth and usable. I'm on the Epic4G Touch right now and it's a couple years old and still considered pretty "high-end", at least until the SGS3 just got released. So my experience is based on newer Android on a high end phone and I'm just thinking I might want a change... although I may be completely dissatisfied with iOS. I've always had PC's and recently I tried a new Core i7 Macbook Pro for a few weeks and just didn't like it at all. As always, the trackpad/input and display were awesome, but I just couldn't deal with the difference in file management/program management.

I've been using Android full time for the past few days, first ICS and now today JB on a Galaxy Nexus and I could probably ramble on for quite a while about my first impreessions but I'll try to briefly summarize why I won't switch over full time to Android. There a a lot of things that I like in Android and can certainly understand the attraction that leads many to prefer it--customization and flexibility alone are far ahead of iOS. Android devices really are far closer to being fully functional handheld computers than an iOS device. The problem for me though is they falter inside an Apple ecosystem and I have to sacrifice too much functionality in this regard. I'll try to explain:

1). Poor integraton with iCloud. Our home has 7 devices sharing information via iCloud and out of the box Android cannot replace this functionality--I had to use two third party apps for Calendar and Contact syncing and there is no automatic syncing via push. I know I can use Google services but don't want to have to reconfigure 6 other devices to do so. I also lose Find My iPhone functionality and can't sync my reminders.

2). No AirPlay. We have TVs scattered throughout our house and use AirPlay quite a bit, either to share video, music or play games with my kids. Also, no Remote app. I'm sure there are third party apps in Android that my work but not as well as Apple's app.

3). No iMessage. I use this a ton--most of my messages are to other Apple devices so it's allowed me to keep my grandfathered text plan of only 200 texts/month. My daughter and son also send me messages via iMessage from their iPod and iPad.

4). Cost of apps. I realize this is my own doing living in an Apple world for the past few years but switching to Android would necessitate repurchasing a lot of apps.

5). A bunch of little things--don't know another way to explain it. First is just the feel of the OS and the apps. On iOS everything just feels and looks better. Any of the apps I've used on both systems just feel more polished and sophisticated on iOS--only way I can really explain it. Another example--switching audio output on the iPhone is a breeze. Doing the same thing in Android requires that I shut off bluetooth and then restart it.

These things alone outweigh the advantages offered by Android for my specific needs. I won't deny that Android offered greater overall functionality than iOS but it just doesn't fulfill my needs as well. I'll continue to play with it over the next few months until the next iPhone comes out but don't anticipate a full switch. Just my $0.02.

I understand where you're coming from. But unlike you, I don't have any current iDevices or apps to worry about integrating into my Android world so the 1st 4 of those things wouldn't really apply to my situation. And there's so many free apps on Android I've literally only purchased about 5 apps on Android so that wouldn't be a big deal to have to re-purchase them if I moved to iOS.

Thanks guys for the input..

 

[sentinelsx]

This is of course an iPhone thread and many people are usually biased and such but IMO, if you own a mac, buy an iPhone. You will be happier.

I like the integrated platform. I just hate the over blown silo approach to everything. One should not have to worry about erasing one's library if they want content from a second machine for example. I am not sure how mac does this, but on windows using an iPhone is a hassle IMO.

I hope WP8 succeeds. Yeah i know this will irk many now, but do we really have to cheer on OSes like we cheer on sports teams? I hate how in order to be an android or iOS user you have to join their respective "cults" and completely block any objective view of strengths and weaknesses of other products.

Android with jellybean is great but as i have always said and will always believe, it is in the wrong hands of OEMs and google who care about their shiny new hardware and data collection only respectively. Look at nokia, they are releasing quality content for their lumia phones (the recent transit app looks very nice) as if they really care more about user experience.

It is quite funny to many of you perhaps, but i still find i used to be much more content with symbian on a E71 in the old days. Of course hardware could only keep me with it for so long before shiny touch screens and much user friendly interfaces came out, but they came out with catches. I hate that.