Interesting to read this since I'm considering getting an iPhone; so far I've only used Android. Does anyone have comments who has done the switch in that direction?
I switched to iOS this past year after using Android since the G1, and working as an Android developer for the past 5 or so years. Pretty happy with the iPhone X, less happy with iOS 11, I think previous iterations were better.
Things I like:
* typing feels much nicer, no lag in character input
* phone runs much cooler, does not make hand sweaty to hold
* far fewer random freezes or lag
* password management much better by default, every app with important information has faceid which is quite nice
* I prefer the photos taken by the iPhone camera
* I find tethering on iPhone works more consistently
Things I don’t like:
* no back button
* some Google apps for iOS don’t seem as good as their android counterparts. YouTube app keeps getting buggy updates, Inbox still doesn’t support full iPhone X screen.
* Prefer Android’s notification system
* A bunch of apps have video playback issues, I suspect there’s an OS level bug
> * typing feels much nicer, no lag in character input
This is huge for me. I feel like every Android phone has some kind of lag when typing and scrolling. It's really annoying me to the point of sticking with iOS even thought I'd love to switch to Android.
I haven’t switched, but I often use my fiancée’s iPhone (which isn’t at all the same thing, I know).
The way that I put it is that the iPhone is a better smart phone; Android is a better pocket computer. If you want something which is basically a small communications device, which does one thing at a time & gets out of your way, then you probably want an iPhone. If you want a flexible, capable device which does many different things and respects your choices, then you want Android.
Things I like about iOS: on brand-new hardware, it feels snappier than Android on similarly brand-new hardware; the experience within a single app is less distracting.
Things I like about Android: real Firefox; headphone jacks; ability to sideload apps; open source apps; back button; task switching; less lock-in (iCloud, I’m looking at you); doesn’t make me want to chuck the phone at a wall after using it for three minutes.
I trust Apple more than Google, but I trust me even more than Apple, and with Android I can have a mostly Google-free existence, while with an iPhone I cannot have an Apple-free existence. For me, the choice is easy.
I switched to iPhone for a few months after being on Android since the Motorola Droid. All of Android's little annoyances and failed promises to fix problems for years finally annoyed me into trying out an iPhone (6s). Apple's build quality and UX were a welcome improvement, but after a while I found some different issues that were equally annoying. I think iOS is still better overall, but not better enough to justify the cost for me. Both have their drawbacks and both are good enough.
The 6s's crappy camera made me decide it was time to upgrade to something with a good camera, and I was able to get a Pixel 2 for way less than an iPhone 8 so that's the route I took. If the cost was around the same I would have stuck with iPhone for the wireless charging.
I did it a little over a year ago. Many frustrations with Android, switched to the iPhone SE (mainly due to size). Most of the time on android I was running native on Nexus.
Apps are more consistent, and generally better designed. Wider range of apps, far less crap.
Restrictions on background tasks and what apps are allowed to do mean a couple of things I had on Android can't be duplicated on iOS (eg a WiFi signal strength thing - no huge loss)
Apple focus on privacy, along with granular app notification and data restrictions are marvellous, as is the way apps request permissions, and it just works. Apps make less of a land grab as a result. Android was still fundamentally broken in that area when I left.
iOS feels slicker than any version of Android despite clearly having some feature-itis and clumsiness (e.g. timestamps on SMS and iMessage are hidden off screen). Android isn't free of this, but never feels (across multiple versions of Android) like they put much thought into joining it all up apart from joining up data harvesting of course.
Trivia: iTunes is a mess, but it does what you need. iOS still lacks a dark mode that I would really prefer. SE keeps a headphone socket so all is well with the world. :)
> Apple focus on privacy, along with granular app notification and data restrictions are marvellous, as is the way apps request permissions, and it just works.
This is one of the reasons I also ditched Android for an iPhone.
I had an HTC Hero, an HTC Desire and a Galaxy Nexus before I jumped to the iPhone. I forked out more than I normally would have for a phone when I bought my Galaxy Nexus under the assumption that it would receive regular OS updates being a Nexus device. Nope; stuck on Android 4.3 and was eventually forced to install a glitchy 4.4 custom ROM. There were never any decent ROMs for later Android versions so I gave up on the whole platform.
Just got a iPhone 8 at the beginning of the year after probably 7 years of Android, mostly Samsung devices.
Can’t wait to go back to be honest. Part of the problem was that iOS 11 was super buggy at the beginning. That really soured me to start and I haven’t found anything particularly worth changing my mind over since.
Yes, I've been quite happy with my Galaxy Note 4, now so old that I can't even remember when I bought it — must be 4 years or so. I haven't even replaced the battery, though I like having the option to do so ... oh well, I guess nobody lets you do that anymore.
I made the switch from Android (always used Samsung or Nexus devices) to iOS two years ago.
My two issues with iOS:
- Siri is absolute trash. I've given up on using it for text messages. Even when just using it for timers it fucks up. It's basically a 50/50 chance it will interpret things like "3 and a half minutes" as "3 to a half minutes". Whenever it does this it then says something like "I don't understand what time you want". I literally never had Google mess up a timer.
- Apple insistence on making you use their apps has gotten better, but it's still annoying. I still run into cases where it tries to open links in Safari (my default browser is chrome) or open directions in Maps ( I use Google maps).
Outside of those things I really love iOS.
My biggest reasons for switching was horrid privacy controls on Android(which have improved since I left) and device degrading rates. Every Android phone or tablet I owned would slow down terribly and have a noticeable dip in battery quality within 1 1/2 years. It was like clockwork. Luckily this hasn't been the case for me on iOS. I will hit the two year mark with this phone in the summer and it's still running and holding a charge like the day I got it. I used to get a new phone every two year religiously but this is the first time I am going wait it out.
