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I don't care about customisation, rooting devices, changing icons, or changing the text on my OS.

I just want something that works reliably, has great build quality, solid hardware specs, and really good support if something goes wrong. Plus I'm already in the Apple ecosystem so switching would be a pain. There's nothing any Android devices offer which would make me want to switch.
 
At the time I switched to iPhone it was because iOS was far more polished and better looking than Android.

For usability sake though, to get the look and feel of the OS I wanted, I jailbroke.

Now, six years later, Apple has continued it's path to locking down everything and jailbreaking has failed to keep up. Additionally, Android has matured and seems to look and perform better than the Android of 2012.

Because of that my next phone won't be an iPhone.
 
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1: Because iOS is simple sleek and I don’t need customization, I prefer stock look/icons.

2: I Use iPhone over android because it’s a status symbol for me. I feel proud when I am hanging a high end iPhone.
 
I don't care about customisation, rooting devices, changing icons, or changing the text on my OS.
A lot of people don't. But no one is forcing you to. Many people run stock Android for precisely the reason you state.

Plus I'm already in the Apple ecosystem so switching would be a pain.
It's only a pain because you (and others) have decided to place all your eggs in the Apple basket. Third party alternatives have long been available.

And please don't quote iMessage at me. SMS/MMS is quite capable. The only thing iMessage has going over that is it's ability to function on WiFi.
 
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iOS is a more stable platform with Very useful default (built-in) applications that “just work”.

Edit: also
A. scrolling is much smoother on iPhones (hardware and software (iOS) integration.
B. The platform is much more stable than android. Android regularly will throw up an error or “this app has stopped responding” so it makes android STILL feel like beta software even after all these years.
 
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1: Because iOS is simple sleek and I don’t need customization, I prefer stock look/icons.
But no one is forcing anyone on Android to use that option. It's just available. Plenty of people run stock Android and make no customizations, even though they could.

I just don't see the option to customize as a mark against Android. It's like saying the inability to customize iOS is a feature!
 
A lot of people don't. But no one is forcing you to. Many people run stock Android for precisely the reason you state.


It's only a pain because you (and others) have decided to place all your eggs in the Apple basket. Third party alternatives have long been available.

And please don't quote iMessage at me. SMS/MMS is quite capable. The only thing iMessage has going over that is it's ability to function on WiFi.

Well then honestly I don't see what's so good about Android. It's really unoptimised, the quality of third-party apps are grim, and the OEMs just don't have the support that Apple do. Plus the single core performance on any Snapdragon is half of the current A-series chips, if not worse.

They just throw more cores and more RAM every iteration without addressing the fundamental issues with optimisation on the OS. I can buy an iPhone safe in the knowledge it'll be supported for the next batch of OS updates and can handle it smoothly.
 
I've gone back and forth. First smartphone was an iPhone 3G, after that an iPhone 4 and then I went with a Galaxy S4, Oneplus One and currently Oneplus 3. My next smartphone will be an iPhone X, either a used current model or the next gen depending on prices. Mainly because aside from Samsung nobody else makes a good smaller Android phone at the moment and I want something physically smaller than my OP3 but am not sold on the Galaxy S9. As a phone OS I'm very happy with Android actually.

During all that time I've used iOS on an iPad as well and at the moment I would say that both Android and iOS do very much the same things but with different workflows. Experience on Android phones does not significantly differ from manufacturer to manufacturer anymore as most have gotten closer to stock Android, which like iOS has finally gained a pretty good feature set that doesn't need jailbreaks or rooted custom ROMs to do what you need.

iOS still has some annoyances. I would like to see an option for selecting default applications, having split screen view on phone (and in every app for that matter) and not have the completely stupid app store download over cellular limits that are completely irrelevant in a country where cheap unlimited LTE is a reality.
 
Just curious.

Good question. Though, usually threads like this bring out a lot of hostility from both sides...

Short Version: I prefer iOS because I don't have time anymore to spend rooting a phone to get rid of gigs of adware that report my every move, action, choice to random ad servers at home. I like the superior build quality of Apple devices and the fact that out of the box, they run fairly well. I used to be a HUGE Google fan, rooting android phones and very anti-Apple. But when I tried my first iPhone, it changed me completely. That, along with the fact that I met a girl I fell in love with, got married, and started working a job that required more time... Apple devices impressed me for build quality, stability, and apps that worked a heck of a lot better than Android apps. Every year I try out a friend's Android phone for a week just to make sure I'm being fair to both platforms, but I definitely prefer Apple.

That and I've fallen out of favor with Google. I try not to use Google products or Google apps if I can. In this age where privacy is non-existent, I've moved to FastMail, Safari, iCloud, etc... Having actually looked at code in Android roms that were being rooted, seeing what apps like Facebook did back in the day - I value my privacy more these days than I used to.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Long Version:

I started out with Android with an HTC MyTouch on T-Mobile. Being someone who builds computers and works tech, I quickly got into the Android rooting experience. When I got the Droid 1 I was beta testing roms, installing different roms every week, and spent countless hours on DroidForums helping others root. I was very anti-apple back then, but I had never tried it. Pete's Bugless Beast was my favorite rom on the OG Droid. I went from the Droid 1 to the HTC Thunderbolt (4G LTE) continuing my Android "love" - but rooting was getting more and more difficult.

I went with a coworker to get an iPhone 4s because he was very pro Apple and I wanted to see what it was like. I was VERY impressed by the 4s. Loved the way the phone felt in my hand, how the OS flew, everything was so pleasant to use I actually USED my phone. Apps were so perfect vs Android.

But I lapsed and went back to the Samsung Note 3 because I wanted a bigger phone. However, I was shocked to see the rooting world falling apart. I was part of the group that raised some $36,000? to hire a hacker to crack the locked bootloader so we could root our phones, but Verizon was making it more and more difficult - rom devs bled from Verizon to T-Mobile and eventually disappeared.

So, I went back to an iPhone 5 and stuck with Apple from the 5 to the 6+. The 6+ was the first Apple device I really fell in love with. The size, the battery life, the screen, everything - I loved it. It wasn't until I got the 6s+ that I started becoming anti-Google - their privacy practices and need to sell everything I do out to companies. Android flagship phones are hardly cheaper than iPhones yet they blast a lot of what you do to ad companies.

Now that I'm older, the ability to iMessage from ANY device, answer calls from ANY device, I just love the way text is rendered on a Mac vs Windows. Apps on Android just don't seem as polished as iOS. Airpods on ANY of my apple devices is just astounding. Always on the latest OS (I've bought 4 Samsung devices that were NEVER updated in the years I owned them).

My 8+ has cemented my opinion that I will be sticking with Apple for a long long time. I miss the days of rooting but, I've got more important things going on in my life at the moment.
 
Just curious.

Instant firmware updates, which comes in very handy when a security problem is discovered. Everybody gets the same version of iOS offered, at the same time. There's not waiting for providers or manufacturers to check their proprietary interfaces for compatibility.

iMessages.

Familiarity.

"It's the ecosphere, stupid."
 
Well then honestly I don't see what's so good about Android. It's really unoptimised, the quality of third-party apps are grim, and the OEMs just don't have the support that Apple do. Plus the single core performance on any Snapdragon is half of the current A-series chips, if not worse.

They just throw more cores and more RAM every iteration without addressing the fundamental issues with optimisation on the OS. I can buy an iPhone safe in the knowledge it'll be supported for the next batch of OS updates and can handle it smoothly.

In my experience any better Android devices run everything perfectly smoothly. I mean my OP3 is a few years old and runs without a hitch. Quality of third party apps varies, just like it does on iOS. For example Reddit readers on Android are 10x better than anything available for iOS while iOS has far better art and music creation apps. The apps most people use that are on both platforms are very much the same experience.

There isn't any real world difference in the average user experience between iOS and Android phones. You can split hairs overe speed tests and specs but in actual experience Android phones are perfectly fine as long as you don't buy some crummy budget model - which are also nowadays a lot better than they used to be.

I do agree with you that manufacturers have just been throwing more hardware at it just to have a nicer looking spec sheet. At the moment I don't really see phones needing 6-8 GB of RAM for example but at the same time I'd rather have more than I need than have future performance hampered because a beancounter decided to skimp on it. As for Android optimization, Google has done a lot for it over the years. Obviously they can't do quite as much since they don't design the actual hardware like Apple does and on top of that OEMs do their own stuff on top of stock Android.
 
It's not that I prefer one over the other, just that there is no compelling reason to switch, for me. Phone is just a tool in my eLife arsenal, not using it as a statement, or whipping it out to show others how kewl I setup things, my screen savers, backgrounds, etc.

And conversely, donkt really care what others do with their devices.

Smartphones were a novelty once, now that everyone has one, novelty has worn off of showing off their gadgets and tweeks.
 
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A lot of people don't. But no one is forcing you to. Many people run stock Android for precisely the reason you state.


It's only a pain because you (and others) have decided to place all your eggs in the Apple basket. Third party alternatives have long been available.

And please don't quote iMessage at me. SMS/MMS is quite capable. The only thing iMessage has going over that is it's ability to function on WiFi.

But no one is forcing anyone on Android to use that option. It's just available. Plenty of people run stock Android and make no customizations, even though they could.

I just don't see the option to customize as a mark against Android. It's like saying the inability to customize iOS is a feature!

I think you misunderstood the title of this thread........” why do ‘you’ prefer iOS over android ? “ It wasnt an open invitation to try to prove why other peoples choice / opinion is wrong and defend droid like you have in this thread.
 
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I really like IoS. Always keep coming back to it from android. I know android is better for my preferences (download torrents, watch series, always on display, be able to close apps after x amount of time) but somehow i always like IoS better. I dont know why :S.
 
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/thread

Agreed. Niether is perfect at everything. User preference is subjective, not right or wrong.

It always gets me when someone is so ANTI-Android or ANTI-Apple - I'll ask them, well have you actually used it more than a few days/weeks? How can you dislike something if you haven't actually tried to use it? :p

But yes, definitely up to user preference. Really need to try both and give it a fair try. I did, and I'm happy with my choice.
 
It always gets me when someone is so ANTI-Android or ANTI-Apple - I'll ask them, well have you actually used it more than a few days/weeks? How can you dislike something if you haven't actually tried to use it? :p

But yes, definitely up to user preference. Really need to try both and give it a fair try. I did, and I'm happy with my choice.
I agree...also the user experience will be affected by the device you choose as well. If you buy a cheap low end used Android phone chances are you will not enjoy the experience. Same could be said of some IOS devices but to a lesser degree imho.
 
I agree...also the user experience will be affected by the device you choose as well. If you buy a cheap low end used Android phone chances are you will not enjoy the experience. Same could be said of some IOS devices but to a lesser degree imho.

Totally. Some iOS updates really made older devices work horribly. Sold my iPhone 4 because the latest iOS was too heavy on it at the time. Then you had severely RAM-limited devices like the iPad Air 1 and iPhone 6. Any iOS device newer than those is still pretty good. On the Android side my gf still uses her 3 year old Oneplus X and it runs quite alright on the stock ROM and would probably run quite nicely on a custom one.
 
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For most of the apps I use every day, the iOS apps are better than the Android alternatives. I have a Pixel 2 XL and an iPhone 8+, and I use both, but for things like Twitter, podcasts, email, messages (about 80% of my iPhone usage), I have yet to find Android apps that I like as much as Tweetbot, Overcast, Spark, and Messages.
 
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