Ten Reasons Why I Finally Dumped Android For an iPhone 4S
I finally got fed up and dumped android for an iPhone 4S.
Here's why:
1. I shouldn't have to handle hardware and software integration to get android to offer the best performance. I don't want that job. The phone makers should be doing this, not me.
2. Android is poorly supported by carriers and manufacturers. You'd be lucky to see one major update a year on a brand new device. Apple gave the 3 year old 3GS their current iOS5. Better support is a must, especially when talking two year contracts. No more aggravation from waiting 6 months to a year for an android OS update that will outdated as soon as it is released.
3. The games selection sucks on android. iOS gets all the big budget titles from big name games developers. Also Infinity Blade 2 works on a 3 year old 3GS. Good luck getting Shadowgun to run on your HTC Evo.
4. 95% of android phones are suck-ass horrible laggy messes. iOS is always super smooth and stable so I spend more time enjoying my phone not tweaking or flashing ROMs. There is no such thing as a bad iPhone. There are plenty of horrible android phones.
5. iPhones have a better battery life. More time surfing, gaming, messaging and talking between charges. This makes the iPhone a better lifestyle accommodating device.
6. All the Google ecosystem apps I need on android are also on iOS. (Search, Voice, Maps, Youtube, Gmail, etc etc). This negates my attachment to android devices and makes for an easy iOS transition
7. iOS has greater cohesiveness between apps, OS features and hardware. With android you can tell there is almost zero synergy between apps, hardware and OS. This is true even on Google's own Galaxy Nexus.
8. iOS versions of apps look and flow better than android versions.
9. Android phones retain zero value after a couple of months. 3GS iPhones still command a couple of hundred dollars. For those that upgrade every year, this is a huge iPhone bonus.
10. Fragmentation...Google can't get even get their own Nexus S updated properly, and has recently dumped support for CDMA Nexus phones. I'm not dealing with that crap any longer. Apple would never screw iPhone users like that.
Now this list does not suggest android does nothing right. Not true at all, but these are the main reasons why I dumped android, and probably will not be returning.
Here's why:
1. I shouldn't have to handle hardware and software integration to get android to offer the best performance. I don't want that job. The phone makers should be doing this, not me.
2. Android is poorly supported by carriers and manufacturers. You'd be lucky to see one major update a year on a brand new device. Apple gave the 3 year old 3GS their current iOS5. Better support is a must, especially when talking two year contracts. No more aggravation from waiting 6 months to a year for an android OS update that will outdated as soon as it is released.
3. The games selection sucks on android. iOS gets all the big budget titles from big name games developers. Also Infinity Blade 2 works on a 3 year old 3GS. Good luck getting Shadowgun to run on your HTC Evo.
4. 95% of android phones are suck-ass horrible laggy messes. iOS is always super smooth and stable so I spend more time enjoying my phone not tweaking or flashing ROMs. There is no such thing as a bad iPhone. There are plenty of horrible android phones.
5. iPhones have a better battery life. More time surfing, gaming, messaging and talking between charges. This makes the iPhone a better lifestyle accommodating device.
6. All the Google ecosystem apps I need on android are also on iOS. (Search, Voice, Maps, Youtube, Gmail, etc etc). This negates my attachment to android devices and makes for an easy iOS transition
7. iOS has greater cohesiveness between apps, OS features and hardware. With android you can tell there is almost zero synergy between apps, hardware and OS. This is true even on Google's own Galaxy Nexus.
8. iOS versions of apps look and flow better than android versions.
9. Android phones retain zero value after a couple of months. 3GS iPhones still command a couple of hundred dollars. For those that upgrade every year, this is a huge iPhone bonus.
10. Fragmentation...Google can't get even get their own Nexus S updated properly, and has recently dumped support for CDMA Nexus phones. I'm not dealing with that crap any longer. Apple would never screw iPhone users like that.
Now this list does not suggest android does nothing right. Not true at all, but these are the main reasons why I dumped android, and probably will not be returning.
Comments
I will say that the large screen on the Evo was nice. I really hope the next iPhone has a bigger screen.
One issue I have with them is backups. Google has no equivalent of iTunes and other apps to keep a copy of contacts, SMS, photos, music playlists etc. They will hold onto your contacts, settings and some other things via the cloud (enough data to sift through for their social network) if you enable it. With an iPhone, it's as simple as plug the new one in and hit restore. The iPhone can lose some things in the process but it does a much better job.
I thought Android cloud-synced your contacts, apps, etc by default so that if you buy a new phone all your accounts, applications, and such are seamlessly transferred to the new one. I'm not absolutely certain since it's not something I've ever done myself.
I thought Android cloud-synced your contacts, apps, etc by default so that if you buy a new phone all your accounts, applications, and such are seamlessly transferred to the new one. I'm not absolutely certain since it's not something I've ever done myself.
I could have some detail here wrong here but if I do then that's just another point as to what's wrong with Android, that after a year I still couldn't get things worked out right:
Android does their sync in such a way that if you sync to Google then you have to use Google WebMail, Calendar, etc. every day from your computer. I don't because the interface was as bad as the phone. I sync to my work exchange server and I want my new calendar items entered into the phone to show up at work too. Google will only push out items to one location. By "sync", Google means Android will Read from multiple locations. It will not write to multiple locations. If you sync to Google then you won't have your new items show up at work.
My new Iphone will let me sync to where I want and also Backup the phone to iCloud.
I thought Android cloud-synced your contacts, apps, etc by default so that if you buy a new phone all your accounts, applications, and such are seamlessly transferred to the new one. I'm not absolutely certain since it's not something I've ever done myself.
Sorta true. Google stores a ton in the cloud, and it all moves with you.
Not true for apps.
But even an iPhone owner gets the same perks through the Google Voice app.
One issue I have with them is backups. Google has no equivalent of iTunes and other apps to keep a copy of contacts, SMS, photos, music playlists etc. They will hold onto your contacts, settings and some other things via the cloud (enough data to sift through for their social network) if you enable it. With an iPhone, it's as simple as plug the new one in and hit restore. The iPhone can lose some things in the process but it does a much better job.
Yes good point. But, there's an app for that. Nandroid, Titanium Backup, etc. True, Google should work on this. It would be nice to have it be as simple as Apple's solution, too.
There is only one Android smartphone that interest me and that is the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. I really like the Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) OS and its unique bundle of features.
It's still very laggy, and unresponsive. Better than previous versions, but still. Why does it ten cores and 20 gigs of ram to make android run reasonably well?
iOS and Windows Phone aren't anywhere near as demanding because they are designed flat out better.
Originally Posted by Gatorguy
I thought Android cloud-synced your contacts, apps, etc by default so that if you buy a new phone all your accounts, applications, and such are seamlessly transferred to the new one. I'm not absolutely certain since it's not something I've ever done myself.
Sorta true. Google stores a ton in the cloud, and it all moves with you.
Not true for apps.
YES TRUE FOR APPS!
Why do you lie, Tech?
If you get a new Android device and go to the 'My Apps' section of the Android Market then all of your apps you had on your 'old' phone are there, ready to be used on your new Android device like nothing's changed (because nothing has).
YES TRUE FOR APPS!
Why do you lie, Tech?
If you get a new Android device and go to the 'My Apps' section of the Android Market then all of your apps you had on your 'old' phone are there, ready to be used on your new Android device like nothing's changed (because nothing has).
The difference is your contacts are all synced automatically while all your apps have to be manually reinstalled.
The difference is your contacts are all synced automatically while all your apps have to be manually reinstalled.
Ah, more a difference in semantics then.
The Android Market has all your apps synced to your account and ready to move to a new phone and you just have to checkmark the ones you wanted to install again or something along those lines? You don't actually have to search them out again. Have I got that right?
I thought Android cloud-synced your contacts, apps, etc by default so that if you buy a new phone all your accounts, applications, and such are seamlessly transferred to the new one. I'm not absolutely certain since it's not something I've ever done myself.
Yes and no. If you save your contacts to the cloud, then yeah, you can easily transfer all your contacts over by just logging into your google or facebook or whatever you use account.
If, however, you save your contact information to your phone's local memory or to your sim card, then no, its not gonna push that info to the cloud and transfer it to your new device.
As for apps, your google account does have a record of every app you've installed, but you still have to reinstall each one manually, as you have to review the security permissions before it lets you install an app.
I finally got fed up and dumped android for an iPhone 4S.
Here's why:
1. I shouldn't have to handle hardware and software integration to get android to offer the best performance. I don't want that job. The phone makers should be doing this, not me.
Now this list does not suggest android does nothing right. Not true at all, but these are the main reasons why I dumped android, and probably will not be returning.
I did find the iPhone to much more touch responsive and the transitions made for an more intuitive experience. The Android, however, extremely powerful seems to require a certain techy "know how" prior to use. One shouldn't have to purchase apps to perform tasks which the system should be intelligent to handle itself e.g. stop app processes when the app is not longer in focus.