Settle the old argument - Apple, Android or Windows Phone

[RobM77]

GTIR said:

These discussions usually miss the point.

Apple products are a lifestyle choice. (Due to excellent marketing, products, gullibility You decide)

Everything else is just bought for functionality. (When has there ever been a queue outside a shop for a newly released Android phone?)

That's not true of anyone I know who owns an iPhone; most, me included, couldn't give a toss about 'lifestyle', we just want a phone that's easy and nice to use (for me at least, it's iOS I choose, not the hardware). I'm well aware of Apple's cringeworthy 'trendy' marketing, but like cars (BMW for example), that's just marketing nonsense and it'd be very shallow to not look beyond it at the products themselves; I'd encourage you to do that, you might be surprised, and even if you stick with what you've got, at least you'll know you've chosen your phone (or car) for genuine reasons rather than superficial ones.

[Morningside]

I am old fashioned and cannot find the box for Symbian. If Androids OS is anything like my wifes Samsung Galaxy Ace then you can forget it!

[The Beaver King]

Campo said:

budfox said:

All are a complete waste of time until battery technology improves massively. There is not a single smartphone on the market that allows you to use it in any way you see fit, all day long.

In fact, my experience suggests that there isn't one with a battery life greater than two hours when being worked hard.

2 hours, wtf are you doing?

I've got to echo this; what the hell are you doing to drain your battery in two hours? Powering the sun?!

My Xperia Z2 has a bloody hard life with me and I still get circa 2 days use between charges. I watched a 2 hour film in bed last night, streaming on battery and the indicator dropped 8%...



With regards to phones; Android any day of the week. I had a few iphones (latest was the 4S), but the locked down interface drove me mad. iOS is an intuitive, highly stable operating system, but you pay for that in the form of very locked software.

Android has flaws, but it varies by manufacture. I found Samsung massively suffered with lag after 12 months; wheres my Z2 is running as quick as the first day I bought it. I have friends with the HTC One and they also report very little slow down over time.

It basically comes down to;

If you want a stable, easy to use, nice looking phone that does most things well; get an iPhone.

If you want variation, customisation, a phone that excels at one thing or another; get an android.

[RobM77]

I chose Apple (I have an iPhone and iPad and an iPod). The reason I like Apple stuff is the HCI. A good analogy for me is Unix and Windows: I've got lots of experience with Unix and am quite comfortable with it. However, for everyday use to just get the job done I choose Windows, because if it's set up right, if it's used as a tool, and there isn't any need to delve deeper, I believe it's a nicer user experience. Cars are another analogy. If I wasn't an obsessive car geek, I'm convinced I'd drive an automatic with numbed off controls and comfy seats (something like an Auris perhaps) - gets the job done with no fuss basically.

[ZesPak]

Pixelpeep7r said:

I agree with most stuff thats been said on this thread, so i will try a summary..

Yes Android is more customisable,
Yes the build quality on most android devices is not as good as apple
Yes apple products are expensive
Yes apple iOS is easier to use day to day
Yes apple stuff plays nicely with each other (far smoother an experience than any other manufacturer combo)

Agree with the above, except for this:
Yes apple iOS is easier to use day to day

For someone who's gotten used to Android, this is far from the truth. You'll be looking for easy ways to do stuff, only to find out you have to take major detours on iOS (that iOS users will find normal and take for granted).
iOS now has the start of inter-app operability which will cure this to an extent though.
The advantage Android holds over iOS is far bigger than just "more customisable".

A part from the ecosystem talking to other Apple gear, can you name me something that's easier on the iPhone than it is on Android?
I'll name 3 things in reverse for everything you could name.

Morningside said:

I am old fashioned and cannot find the box for Symbian. If Androids OS is anything like my wifes Samsung Galaxy Ace then you can forget it!

Luckily it's not. Ace is short for Antichrist.
To dip your feet in other ecosystems, try out the Moto G for Android and the 620 for WP. Both will give you a great experience for little money.

Edited by ZesPak on Tuesday 23 September 14:05

[Pixelpeep7r]

IMO sybian was the death of Nokia.

[Pixelpeep7r]

ZesPak said:

A part from the ecosystem talking to other Apple gear, can you name me something that's easier on the iPhone than it is on Android?
I'll name 3 things in reverse for everything you could name.

You're probably right, its what you are familiar with that makes it 'easier'

but i dunno, someone calls you and you're in a meeting, you want to text them to say 'in a meeting ill call you back' - on the iPhone you get right on the ring screen 'send message' and its already populated the number and you can even select a pre-written text so literally..

RING
CLICK - 'reply with text'
CLICK - 'in a meeting'

Done.

Searching for installed apps, you're on the main screen just swipe down from the top type the first few letters of the app and it appears.

Want an app and don't have the time to worry about malware? - App Store.

[toon10]

Pixelpeep7r said:

ZesPak said:

A part from the ecosystem talking to other Apple gear, can you name me something that's easier on the iPhone than it is on Android?
I'll name 3 things in reverse for everything you could name.

You're probably right, its what you are familiar with that makes it 'easier'

You've hit the nail on the head. I'm a lot quicker on iOS than I am with my work Android as I'm used to it. I can get there on the Samsung, it just takes me longer and seems less intuitive. If I were more used to it and not iOS then I'd probably have the opposite view.

I still think if you give someone an iOS device and an Android device who had never used either, they'd be up and running with the iPhone in a matter of minutes. Longer with Android. One thing Apple does well is the simplicity of use.

[SR7492]

GTIR said:

Pah.
Where's the tents and sleeping bags.

Poor effort.

You mean the poor sado's who squat 3 weeks before the phone is due out?

Think the Samsung brigade are a little more sane . . . .

[ZesPak]

Pixelpeep7r said:

You're probably right, its what you are familiar with that makes it 'easier'

but i dunno, someone calls you and you're in a meeting, you want to text them to say 'in a meeting ill call you back' - on the iPhone you get right on the ring screen 'send message' and its already populated the number and you can even select a pre-written text so literally..

RING
CLICK - 'reply with text'
CLICK - 'in a meeting'

Done.

Searching for installed apps, you're on the main screen just swipe down from the top type the first few letters of the app and it appears.

Want an app and don't have the time to worry about malware? - App Store.

Sorry to inform you, the example that you posted (immediately reply with predefined text) has been on Android years before it was on iOS (as much of the functionality is). iOS only got it in iOS6. You'll see this with a lot of features, iOS 6, 7 and 8 are packed full of features android had since about 2010.

Searching for installed apps, just tap the search bar on your homescreen.
If you have removed it, hold the home button and type it in the search bar.

Want an app and don't have the time to worry about malware? - Play Store

---

I don't say stuff just because I like Android. I have a 4S as well. I'll repeat myself, you'll have a very hard time finding stuff that's easier to do on iOS.

I'll give it a go:
Want to navigate to the location in your calendar/contacts using TomTom/Copilot/Gmaps...?
Tap the location and select the navigation tool.

Want your calendar to open in week view?
Set it to week view.

Want to take a lot of media with you?
Insert an SD card.

You have your multi-gigabyte phone with you and want to transfer some files with it, using it as an external drive?
Plug in your usb cable, drag & drop.

Want to send some pictures to your computer/other phone/tablet when there's no WiFi available?
Just send them over Bluetooth. (yes, it makes me feel all 2001 )


The list goes on, but the gap is closing (swype, text prediction, 3rd party keyboards, inter-app, widgets,...)

Edited by ZesPak on Tuesday 23 September 14:36

[kingston12]

The Beaver King said:

It basically comes down to;

If you want a stable, easy to use, nice looking phone that does most things well; get an iPhone.

If you want variation, customisation, a phone that excels at one thing or another; get an android.

That is exactly how I see it. I have had iPhones since the start and I can't see me changing for a while.

I have tried earlier Androids and found them not to my taste, but a lot of that is just because I am used to Apple and Android is definitely improving must faster than iOS is.

[alock]

Pixelpeep7r said:

You're probably right, its what you are familiar with that makes it 'easier'

I curse at my wife's iPad every time I use it just because the on-screen keyboard doesn't show me what letter I'm about to type. Being an occasional user it is incredibly frustrating not knowing whether it's in upper or lower case mode.

My life seems to revolve around my calendar and my Android phone has a widget taking up the entire left-half of my home screen showing the next 8-10 appointments. Going back to a simple home screen with a grid of icons would be a massive backwards step.

Like you said, it's what you are familiar with that determines how easy and usable you think an operating system is.

[Polariz]

Coming from the Android, IOS and Windows Phone camp, Windows phone is really my day to day device nowadays. I would argue that it plays just as nicely with my other devices as an iPhone does, and it's still got that rarity to it that is quite appealing. Windows Phone 8.1 is turning out be a great O/S on my Nokia 1520.

Pro's (For me):

- If I browse using IE 10 or 11 on the PC, I can then go to my Windows phone IE browser, select the relevant PC from the tabs menu, and continue to browse the same webpages that were left on the PC.
- Universal apps are starting to come into play, which is fantastic. If I buy Machinarium for instance on my WP, when I go into the Windows store on my PC I find that Machinarium has already been purchased and I can just download it and play on my PC on the bigger screen.
- Syncing between devices using OneDrive is better than any other platform that I've come across. Text messages, settings etc. can be synced between my different Windows phones. If I change my background colours of the phone, my Windows 8 PC automatically changes colour too, as does my other Windows phone.
- Battery life is notably better on WP than the other two platforms for day to day usage. There's a great article somewhere on where the WP version of the HTC One M8 lasts a hell of a lot longer than the Android equivalent. A testament to the efficiency of WP, which frankly baffles me (I always viewed MS as horribly inefficient compared to 'Nix operating systems, which is what Android is).
- The interface is a cracking mix of lot's of different ideas. It has the uniformity and structure of an IOS home screen, but has the "Quick glance" of content that's reminiscent of Android widgets/gadgets. It doesn't have the same interaction as an Android Widget, but does enough to be functional and still look pretty. It also has an alphabetical list of apps (Which I hate that IOS can't do!) so it's easy to find an app when you have loads of them.
- The little things, like being able to automatically reply to SMS that I receive while in the car. If I'm hooked up to Bluetooth, and someone sends me a text, my WP replies to them automatically telling them I'm driving right now and I'll get back to them.
- The nicest thing is for me, that with the Developer Preview, I can get the latest and greatest updates to the O/S for free and get around how long it takes the carriers to deliver it. This beats Android (Unless if you use Cyanogen of course) and IOS hands down. My little HTC 8S is running the latest WP8.1 update and still runs brilliantly, which can't be said for your average more elderly IOS phone.
- Free proper sat-nav with offline maps.

Cons:

- Apps. Need I say more. Having said that, I've got all the things I need and don't really miss anything that I used to get on IOS or Android. It's still a big problem though.
- Apps. Again. But mainly around business apps such as Cisco VPN and Jabber. The VPN support on WP is shockingly bad and considering MS is usually a builder of devices for enterprise, it beggars belief.
- No lock screen quick access to certain things. Fortunately I have a dedicated camera button (Which is ace!), but sometimes you don't get this on certain models. I love that the IOS phone has straight access to the flash-based torch from the lock screen.
- The dialer isn't as good as Android.
- MS removed certain things, such as being able to send Facebook messages (And use the same Bluetooth tech mentioned above!) from the SMS system. I could seamlessly switch between both on a single contact - but alas it's gone due to support/programming reasons.
- The volume button is really annoying (Holding down the volume key mutes the ringer, but doesn't mute apps and media!) It's feasible that you could mute your phone for a meeting, then if you're bored you could open a game in said meeting, and the game music will blare out! D'oh.

So my way round it is that I have an iPhone 5S from work and that fills the app stopgap for now. If I can though, I prefer to leave the iPhone behind and just use the WP.

Edited by Polariz on Tuesday 23 September 14:42

[RobM77]

One major advantage of iOS is of course that the hardware and software are both made by the same company, and every iOS developer knows the exact specs of the machine their code will run on. I was trying to help my Dad the other day with his Android tablet, and we couldn't work out why a process had got stuck, until it turned out the keyboard was obscuring something on the screen that needed input.

[Insanity Magnet]

I've been running a nexus 4 recently and while I love android's flexibility, the feeling of flakiness in the OS (up to date), apps and the device itself really bugs me. It took me very little time to break the case of the nexus while my old iPhone 4 has survived four years of abuse from me, the OH and the kids pretty much without a scratch (N4's screen is a scratch magnet).

There are a host of HTCs and Samsungs in the wider family and they frequently need to be returned or are upgraded (which always smacks of dissatisfaction).

Not sure about Windows phones - missing support for a couple of apps e.g. Sonos that would really irritate me although those that I have fiddled about with are pretty nice to heft about (Nokia).

I'll give L a chance when it is released. If it's no better I'll probably buy a iP6

[Luke.]

budfox said:

All are a complete waste of time until battery technology improves massively. There is not a single smartphone on the market that allows you to use it in any way you see fit, all day long.

In fact, my experience suggests that there isn't one with a battery life greater than two hours when being worked hard.

Check out the Xperia Z3...

[ZesPak]

alock said:

I curse at my wife's iPad every time I use it just because the on-screen keyboard doesn't show me what letter I'm about to type. Being an occasional user it is incredibly frustrating not knowing whether it's in upper or lower case mode.

F*ck me, that annoys me as well, especially when typing passwords.
WP also had this initially, don't know if they fixed it already?

iOS now allows 3rd party keyboards so it's a non-issue once they get them to work properly (Swype user here )

[HTP99]

GrumpyTwig said:

Windows phones just seems insane

What does that mean exactly, not getting all stressy and defensive; I'm genuinely curious?

Ive used all three, iOS first on a 3G, Android on an HTC Desire HD and am currently on Windows with a Lumia 920.

I like iOS, I like the simplicity and the way that it just works with no farting about and the handsets are quality, what I don't like is the price. I moved to Android purely because Apple phones were too expensive on a contract, I just didn't see the point in forking out all that money, however I never really liked my HTC and never really gelled with Android so come contract renewal time it was either Windows or back to Apple, at the time the monthlies were the same, with the Lumia 920 at £50 upfront and the iPhone 5 £100, I went Windows.

I love Windows, I like that it is different, I like the live tiles, the whole OS is fresh and relatively easy to operate, 8.1 has ironed out some of the niggles and has made it a great OS, I like the dedicated camera button which means the camera just fires up with one press of a button, it is so easy and quick and the camera is superb, I love the whole ease of use; much like iOS. Nokia Mix Radio is superb as are the Here Maps and navigation.

My contract is up for renewal in Jan and as usual with me I am already looking at the competition, a week or so ago I was dead set on going back to iOS and going for a 6, I think I got carried away with the hype a bit however it has all died down a bit and I'm thinking; "around 50% more per month and a chunk of money up front for an iPhone 6 64gb vs a Lumia 930 or high end Android phone, am I insane!?" prices may come down however do I really need to spend that sort of money?

My wife has a Galaxy S4, which she loves, occasionally I think "I'll give Android a go again" however I have a play with hers and I think, "mmm no" also the build of the Samsung is appalling, it just feels so cheap, I know there are others out there that are of a better build but Andorid phones just don't get me excited.

One thing that worries me a bit with Windows is the lack of take up, what is the future for it, will it get abandoned, will it not be supported as well as it should?

Anyay currently I'm still a Windows fan, but then that may well change come January.

[RobM77]

ZesPak said:

alock said:

I curse at my wife's iPad every time I use it just because the on-screen keyboard doesn't show me what letter I'm about to type. Being an occasional user it is incredibly frustrating not knowing whether it's in upper or lower case mode.

F*ck me, that annoys me as well, especially when typing passwords.
WP also had this initially, don't know if they fixed it already?

iOS now allows 3rd party keyboards so it's a non-issue once they get them to work properly (Swype user here )

I guess you've noticed that the shift key lights up when the keyboard's in upper case mode? I much prefer that to the keyboard changing in front of my eyes the whole time. A good example of something that should be customisable though if people's preferences vary.

[onlynik]

Polariz said:

Coming from the Android, IOS and Windows Phone camp, Windows phone is really my day to day device nowadays. I would argue that it plays just as nicely with my other devices as an iPhone does, and it's still got that rarity to it that is quite appealing. Windows Phone 8.1 is turning out be a great O/S on my Nokia 1520.

Pro's (For me):

- If I browse using IE 10 or 11 on the PC, I can then go to my Windows phone IE browser, select the relevant PC from the tabs menu, and continue to browse the same webpages that were left on the PC.

Chrome does this across all platforms, you can see which tabs are open on which machine (phone, tablet, PC or Mac)