As a follow on to my recent random post on changing cell phone numbers after relocation, I thought I’d take things to the next step. The great debate of our time, Android vs iOS, or in my case, iPhone vs Galaxy. A little background. I have had a personal iPhone for four years now. The day job has historically provided me with a BlackBerry. Recently, that BlackBerry was replaced with an iPhone 4. Now, I carry an iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. Yes, I’ve become that guy…. tinkering with his two iPhones. For a fleeting moment, I considered switching my personal iPhone to an Android device, specifically, a Samsung Galaxy, but I have decided to stick with the iPhone platform totally. Why?
I acknowledge that Android devices, the Galaxy specifically, are great phones. I like them, really, I do. I just don’t love them. The apps I use most are available on both platforms, so that’s not the issue. It’s just that I like the look, and feel of iPhone. I like the integration between iPhone, iPad, and MacBook Air. Actually, I love the integration. In fact, that integration is probably the number one reason I’m sticking with iPhone, but the fact that I even considered switching is saying something. Am I missing something by not switching to Android? I’d love to hear your opinions.
Now, about switching from AT&T to Verizon…..
-MJ, May 21, 2013
If you’re going to get an Android phone then either a) get a Nexus device so you know you’ll get updates, or b) get the best Android phone available now which is clearly the HTC One. Forget Samsung. Yeah I know they’re the most popular but that’s mostly because they spend a lot of money on advertising. Ignore that. Stock Android is fine, ignore all the stupid glitz crapware the vendors put on top of it.
If you want a BIG phone go Android. The iPhone is tiny in comparison. Even the iPhone 5 with its 4″ screen is too small for me.
Want easy to use? Get an iPhone.
Got lots of other Apple devices and have all kinds of money invested in tablet apps and so forth? Get an iPhone.
Want a replaceable battery? Get an iPhone. With Apple you basically have to buy a battery/case. Not the end of the world for most people.
The Galaxy S4 has insufficient storage since only the 16GB model with ~8GB of free space for apps is available. Yes you can add an SD card (for a lot less than Apple will charge you for extra flash) but you can’t put apps on there. This isn’t enough for a modern smartphone, especially if you travel and might want to download maps etc. Get something else or wait for a 32GB or larger model to become available in the US.
Like living on the cutting edge? Get an Android phone. iPhone is getting stale. The Google Now service, Google’s implemenation of voice, etc is all better than anything on iPhone.
Maps? You can get Google Maps on iPhone. Don’t make your choice on that.
Battery life? Get an iPhone.
Service? Support? Get an iPhone. Buy it at an Apple store. Anything happens they’ll probably replace it for free with little effort on your part.
@chbrown – Comparing a Samsung Fascinate to the iPhone 4 is not even close to being fare. The specs on the iPhone 4 are head and shoulders above the Fascinate. A fair comparison for what was available for purchase at the beginning of this year would be be between the Galaxy S3 which absolutely blows the iPhone 4 away and superior to the 4s and 5. Hope you at least looked at the S3 before you signed your life away for a two year old flag ship. Android software has come a long since the 2.3 days of the Fascinate.
If you use Google services you really should be on Android as the integration is so much better. Anything with 4.1 and above on Android is head and shoulders above iOS. The iPhone is a time machine of sorts. If you want to see the height of mobile technology circa 2007 look no further than the iPhone 5. Nothing has really changed. I had the iPhone 3g pretty slick phone for 2008 unfortunately nothing has really changed since then and Android is way out in front and on the cutting edge of innovation. All of the “innovations” on iOS has been taken from Android and borked. In our family we currently have two iPad 4’s, an iPhone 5, Galaxy Nexus, S3, two HTC One’s and a Galaxy Note 2. I just recently purchased the HTC One for myself and I still have the Note 2 although it is just sitting there. Sounds like MJ likes the premium feel of the iPhone in which case go with the HTC one. It doesn’t have as many software features as the Galaxy S4 but coming from an iPhone you will be overwhelmed with the options available from Android anyways. For the same price as the base iPhone 5 you can get 32 gb of onboard storage and that super sexy solid aluminum feel. I believe ATT even has the 64 gb version if you are so inclined. The One is fast, the screen is gorgeous, 1080p on a phone!!, and surprisingly the battery lasts all day! I was concerned coming from the Galaxy Note 2 on battery life since the only reason I put up with such a huge phone was for the battery. But now that I have had the One for a couple of weeks I will be selling my Note 2. Still a great phone but I never really got used taking advantage of the S Pen which some people absolutely love. The One can standby all night and only lose a couple of points of battery life!
Cross app sharing of files with Android is so much better than iPhone. You can open a PDF emailed to you then with a click of a button share it with other editing apps or chat apps. Try doing that with iOS. Android has file manager apps that allow you to look under the hood and select files and apps to send or modify. On the iPhone you don’t have that kind of access. It just disappears once you get it. The pictures will end up in the camera roll but that’s about it.
Why do people think it is so much easier to manage music and other media on an iPhone? Do you guys really like to depend on iTunes to sync music? I stopped purchasing anything through iTunes because it has Apple DRM all over it meaning I can’t just drag and drop the MP3’s wherever I wanted when I wanted. With Android songs I purchase from Amazon MP3 I can play them anywhere including my iPad! If you worrying about syncing music there is double twist. The HTC One comes with a great software tool that transfers everything on your old phone including text messages, regardless of platform, over to your HTC one! Pretty sweet. Also why is it that Apple is so lazy as to not have a upper case and lower case keyboard when you hit the shift key? Android has had that since I started using Android version 2.2. Also why can’t the apps on iOS be organized alphabetically? That is very annoying if you like to have things easily accessible in alpha order instead of digging through pages of apps. Small nit picks but if you use your phone all day like I do for work the smallest things get very annoying very quickly.
Lastly the quality and screen sizes on Android are awesome. 3.5″ was a pretty big screen… back in 2007. My dad’s iPhone 5 is so hard to type on it’s ridiculous how do you iPhone user put up with such a tiny display? My dad still regrets downsizing to the 4″ display from his 4.3″ android after all when people upgrade their TV’s do they go smaller? I don’t have huge hands and it is so hard to downgrade to such a tiny screen after having a phone with 4.65″ and above! The HTC One and Samsung S4 out retina the retina display of the iPhone 5 by a huge margin it’s not even funny. The iPhone 5 is the feature phone of smartphones. You used to be able to justify putting up with lackluster software because of the awesome industrial design of the iPhone now with the HTC One Android has all of the bases covered.
So what are you missing out on by not switching to Android? Just about all of the innovation in the mobile space for the past 2 years. Sorry about the long post. Smartphones are my other passion 🙂
Connectivity with our family’s MacBooks and iPad and iPad mini will keep me an iPhone user for the foreseeable future.
I’ve recently switched from an iPhone 4 to the Galaxy S4 and I love it… mostly just because I was getting bored with my iPhone. Overall, everything works excellent on both, so I can’t say I’m in one camp or the other. I am glad I never have to use iTunes again though.
If you like the look and feel of the iPhone, you should check out the HTC One which is a really sleek phone. I ultimately went with the Galaxy so I could stick a 64gb memory card in it and not have to be connected to listen to my music.
It definitely seems you can do more with the Galaxy as opposed to iPhones if you like to customize and use it as you want. Also, the extra screen space makes it a lot easier to type on. There doesn’t seem to be any of the glitches and unreliability that Android phones once had.
Overall, they’re both great phones and I ended up just wanting something new. The iPhone has been pretty much the same for many years now, which is a plus for many people using them, but I needed some change. I don’t regret it one bit.
If you’re going to give android a chance go for the best. Nexus 4, Samsung S4, etc. Android’s 4.2 update is a game changer with it’s Google Now service (like Siri).
The mapping is still the best (that why all the apple user wanted Google Maps back on their phone) which integrates your email account heavily notifying you of flight times and updates as well of packages. Google/Android wasn’t out with the first smartphone but I believe Google is on the frontier of innovation of constantly making their product better. Apple is a year behind on their phone hardware wise so if you are going to get a new iphone, wait til Oct. for the iphone 5s or 6. Sorry for the rant but feel, but if you DO give android a fair chance, learn all the features, you won’t regret it.
Screen size is the biggest advantage
I switched from Android to an iPhone 4 this past February and haven’t looked back. I had a Samsung Fascinate and it was an okay smartphone but the iPhone is so much easier to use, especially with integrating music and how the apps work. I don’t know if it was an Android issue or a phone specific issue but Google Maps and GPS function (can’t remember what it was called) would constantly freeze during use as well as the phone freezing a lot, requiring removal of the battery. I also found file sharing and adding music files to be a real challenge. I haven’t had any issues like that with the iPhone and have found the Maps and Directions functions to work very well. Hope this helps.