iPhone vs Android. Any objective comparison from 2014+ ?

[GoodEnough]

I hear co-workers complain their 2 year old iPhone is running like crap. Slow. Battery dies fast.

I have never owned an iPhone. I am just wondering if there is any consensus if one is empirically better than the other for certain metrics. Speed of OS, hardware specs, durability, etc. I heard the hardware of iPhone can not compare to 2015 Android phones like Pure.

 

[Artdeco]

A 2 year old battery needs replaced.

The current gen iPhone may still perform better in some tasks than the next Samsung flagship.

Just buy one, if it doesn't meet your expectations, take it back during the remorse period.

 

[GoodEnough]

So, iPhone has not been surpassed in a definitive way?

 

[mikeymikec]

A 2 year old battery needs replaced.

/me looks at his 2-year-old Nexus 5, looks back at screen, shakes head

So, iPhone has not been surpassed in a definitive way?

What do you mean?

 

[poofyhairguy]

I have never owned an iPhone. I am just wondering if there is any consensus if one is empirically better than the other for certain metrics.

First things first, we have to know if you are talking about the 2015 iPhone 6s. Too many people assume all iPhones are basically the same and have the same benefit, but the 2015 iPhone is a monster while the 2014 iPhone was two years behind Android on hardware at launch. When we are talking hardware specific phones are important.

In general the iPhones (all of them) have better apps (except browser, Android's Chrome destroys mobile Safari) and have great easy to use cameras. In general Android is more flexible (aka it has apps iPhones don't have). The overall OSes are generally just as stable as each other and as "smooth." The real difference has to do with ecosystems and hardware features.

 

[Commodus]

First things first, we have to know if you are talking about the 2015 iPhone 6s. Too many people assume all iPhones are basically the same and have the same benefit, but the 2015 iPhone is a monster while the 2014 iPhone was two years behind Android on hardware at launch. When we are talking hardware specific phones are important.

In general the iPhones (all of them) have better apps (except browser, Android's Chrome destroys mobile Safari) and have great easy to use cameras. In general Android is more flexible (aka it has apps iPhones don't have). The overall OSes are generally just as stable as each other and as "smooth." The real difference has to do with ecosystems and hardware features.

I disagree that the 2014 iPhones were two years behind! My iPhone 6 is still running like a champ. Not sure how someone with a 6 Plus would be faring right now, but I don't mind the 1GB of RAM that much (the A8 chip is still up to the job, too). I'll be ready to upgrade this year, but that'd be true of most any phone.

 

[JeffMD]

The snapdragon 600's are still awesome CPUs. Its pretty sad that todays budget phones are so budget minded that they still think the snapdragon 400 is an acceptable processor. Much in the way that budget android tablets which were awesome when they came out over 2 years ago, are now complete shiat because it is still the same hardware.

Anyways... a 2 year old flagship phone is still going to be great today. The S5, LG flex and G3, the iphone 5s (which most people are still buying the cpu today in ipad mini 2's) will still get you through most things and look good doing it. The iphone 5s is probably the one that looks worse for wear, the display resolution was lacking then and is lacking even more now, and you have the current problem of Appls iOS updates just making everything slower. Atleast with the androids, if you stick with the stock version you shouldn't ever get slower on a vanilla install.

 

[Platypus]

There are all sorts of comparisons you can make, it depends on what you care about. If security is paramount to you for example, iDevices are by far the winner there in terms of security features they offer the end user and the application devs. Google and their OEM partners will never be able to evenly compete here.

If you are talking about hardware, Android OEMs generally move much faster at rolling out the latest kit than Apple, but specs on paper aren't everything imo.

A lot of people complain about iOS updates on older hardware and it's true the experience can be pretty bad. For better or worse, most Android devices get abandoned after a few updates, many of them not major updates at that, so you generally will have a consistent experience there.

For most consumers, it comes down to which application ecosystem you prefer. You have more control generally with Android, but with more control comes way more ways they can (and do) get it wrong.

 

[nerp]

Yeah, unless you get a nexus, don't ever expect updates. Enjoy wondering if some hack or vulnerability introduced by the manufacturer's customization is there. I got an Android phone a while back not realizing this and was a bit miffed. Should have done my research.

 

[LPCTech]

My Galaxy S3 from like 4 years ago with the original battery works perfectly. It has android 4.3 on it. No problems whatsoever.

I would never buy any apple product and would sell or exchange the gift of any apple product. But thats just me.

 

[mrochester]

First things first, we have to know if you are talking about the 2015 iPhone 6s. Too many people assume all iPhones are basically the same and have the same benefit, but the 2015 iPhone is a monster while the 2014 iPhone was two years behind Android on hardware at launch. When we are talking hardware specific phones are important.

In general the iPhones (all of them) have better apps (except browser, Android's Chrome destroys mobile Safari) and have great easy to use cameras. In general Android is more flexible (aka it has apps iPhones don't have). The overall OSes are generally just as stable as each other and as "smooth." The real difference has to do with ecosystems and hardware features.

I'd disagree with your opinion that Chrome is better than Safari. I use both an iPhone 6S and a Galaxy S6+ and Chrome definitely trails Safari. Many sites on Chrome don't format properly for the screen and you have to scroll from left to right to read the text (especially an issue on forums). Safari doesn't suffer from this issue as it formats text to fit the screen.

 

[Artdeco]

/me looks at his 2-year-old Nexus 5, looks back at screen, shakes head



What do you mean?

That you don't understand batteries, lifespans, charging cycles? Take your pick.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I'd disagree with your opinion that Chrome is better than Safari. I use both an iPhone 6S and a Galaxy S6+ and Chrome definitely trails Safari. Many sites on Chrome don't format properly for the screen and you have to scroll from left to right to read the text (especially an issue on forums). Safari doesn't suffer from this issue as it formats text to fit the screen.

At some level it is a personal preference thing. I prefer how Android Chrome handles 20+ tabs (because no matter what device I get up to that many) and how it is often easier to copy individual words of text in Chrome.

From a purely technical standpoint Safari is better because it handles JavaScript better and can use content blockers natively.

 

[GoodEnough]

Ok, it sounds like the 2014 iPhone 6 is still good and modern.

But, is it safe to say that someone with an aging 2-3 year old iPhone 5 is probably having a crappy phone experience compared to a modern 2015 Android?
since it's slower with modern 2016 iOS updates on an old 2012 hardware platform. Lower res, 1GB RAM, slower CPU, smaller battery

 

[Yuriman]

I'm running a 2013 Moto X. It hit the market around halfway between the 5 and 5s, and was arguably an upper midrange phone. It has an SoC many were skeptical of and complained about when it was new - It's a dual core, though it uses the same cores as the flagship quads at the time. A few weeks ago Republic Wireless finally pushed Android 5.2 out to me, and I couldn't be happier. Battery life is still acceptable, though less than when the phone was new, and everything is smooth and snappy. There are a handful of games where I'm finally starting to see limitations of the 3 year old GPU, but for general performance it's still a great phone.

I'm highly skeptical of Apple's choice to only include 1GB of RAM in the iPhone 5, much less the 5s, much much less the 6, which uses higher resolution assets. Even when the 5 was released, 1GB was substandard. Considering the cost of these devices, and the tiny cost of the additional RAM, I can only rationalize it has intentional planned obsolescence.

 

[ibex333]

Let me give this a try as someone who has been going between Androids and iPhones several times over the last 8 years or so.

Android:

Phones tend to be overall more "interesting", more bells and whistles(most of which as non essential), cheaper prices, sometimes by far. Higher dpi screens(which is not noticeable sometimes vs 1080p screens). They have a "back" button! Oh, and did I already mention they have a BACK button?

Keyboards are more robust and diverse. More keyboard options available. Cameras can be really good, but sometimes require know-how to get the best results. Cameras are often sucky in night time performance, and only flagships are sometimes a real exception.

Earpieces and speakers are often of very poor quality. On some phones I struggle to hear the other side well through the earpiece especially on Samsung phones. Samsung phones are the worst. They have a ton of high tech awesome features, but they completely ignore the basics, like providing the user with a good experience during a simple call or using a GPS which often doesn't work at all!

Android phones only have a good fingerprint sensor on Samung and newest Nexus 6p. Outside of that, android phones cant really boast about their fingerprint sensors.


iPhone

Very boring phones overall. No fancy "mumbo jumbo" here. Ancient, archaic OS design, virtually unchanged from the very first iPhone ever. Same god damn home button, NO BACK BUTTON! Old, boring keyboard which doesn't even have a number row! Virtually no cool options for the camera. Virtually no tweaking or customizing. What you see is what you get! It's as simple as that!


However.... And a big "however at that"...

iPhone is rock solid and stable in overall performance, user experience and stability. There are no surprises with it. It doesn't freeze. It never has any issues with GPS. It almost always sounds OK in phone conversations, and through the speaker.

The keyboard, although boring design, is 100% solid and stable and typos are not a very common thing.

There is no need to clear background apps. Phone is good at auto-managing it's resources leaving the user free to enjoy the phone. (Android does this too, but not as well)

Camera, although boring, consistently beats Android phones in "auto" shooting performance. It consistently produces better results overall than ANY android phone.
Please note that android phones can sometimes produce much better photos than the iPhone, but if you take 100 photos with each phone, the iPhone will always have a larger number of better photos.




In the end.... If you want a very stable phone, that never gives you any trouble and just works - however being a very boring, and simple phone, get an iPhone.

But, if you want an "exciting" phone, where you never know what to expect and constantly have to tinker to get more cool stuff out of it, get an Android phone. Better, yet, get a Nexus 6p. It's pretty much the only option right now IMO. Everything else just pales in comparison.

 

[mikeymikec]

That you don't understand batteries, lifespans, charging cycles? Take your pick.

You wrote this:

A 2 year old battery needs replaced.

As a generalisation it's clearly incorrect. My phone gives me 4-6 days battery life as it always has done. The smartphone that I upgraded from is a year older than my N5 and my mother gets about 8 days of battery life out of it.

Li-ion does suffer from decreased battery life over a long-enough period of usage / charging cycles, but it's a clear case of YMMV. Stop making silly generalisations; I'm sure there are plenty of other people on this forum with two-year-old phones that aren't in desperate need of battery replacement.

Also, in case you misunderstood, my "what do you mean" comment was directed at someone else, beneath the quote I was responding to.

 

[GoodEnough]

ibex, does the iPhone have a back button?

 

[GoodEnough]

Better, yet, get a Nexus 6p. It's pretty much the only option right now IMO. Everything else just pales in comparison.

Moto X Pure is almost half the price (AWH deal) for basically the same specs.
plus megapixels and microSD slot.

 

[ibex333]

Moto X Pure is almost half the price (AWH deal) for basically the same specs.
plus megapixels and microSD slot.

Specs on paper, maybe. But have you used the 6p?

Also, the Moto X Pure does not have a fingerprint sensor, which immediately makes it a non-option for me. It also does not even have Marshmallow and still runs on Lollipop. Lollipop on a new phone?! Heresy... and don't forget, the 6p will always have Android updates quicker being a Google phone.

Yes, there are some things Moto does better, but overall, the Nexus 6p is more than just the sum of it's parts while the Moto X clearly shows you why it costs less with lack of features.

ibex, does the iPhone have a back button?

No it doesn't. Apple tried working around it by implementing a "software" on-screen back button in some apps, but it's a crappy implementation, and some apps don't even have it. It's just not something that's built into the phone by default. Often, if you want to go back, you have to press the home button go back to home screen and from there go back into the app, It's easy and fast to do, but the same is accomplished even easier and faster by simply pressing "back" on Android.

 

[Artdeco]

You wrote this:


As a generalisation it's clearly incorrect. My phone gives me 4-6 days battery life as it always has done. The smartphone that I upgraded from is a year older than my N5 and my mother gets about 8 days of battery life out of it.

Li-ion does suffer from decreased battery life over a long-enough period of usage / charging cycles, but it's a clear case of YMMV. Stop making silly generalisations; I'm sure there are plenty of other people on this forum with two-year-old phones that aren't in desperate need of battery replacement.

Also, in case you misunderstood, my "what do you mean" comment was directed at someone else, beneath the quote I was responding to.

ah, that explains a lot. And I suspect batteries lose a bit more than you think over time...

 

[mrochester]

At some level it is a personal preference thing. I prefer how Android Chrome handles 20+ tabs (because no matter what device I get up to that many) and how it is often easier to copy individual words of text in Chrome.

From a purely technical standpoint Safari is better because it handles JavaScript better and can use content blockers natively.

I never have that many tabs open on my phone so that's of no concern to me.

 

[mrochester]

Let me give this a try as someone who has been going between Androids and iPhones several times over the last 8 years or so.

Android:

Phones tend to be overall more "interesting", more bells and whistles(most of which as non essential), cheaper prices, sometimes by far. Higher dpi screens(which is not noticeable sometimes vs 1080p screens). They have a "back" button! Oh, and did I already mention they have a BACK button?

Keyboards are more robust and diverse. More keyboard options available. Cameras can be really good, but sometimes require know-how to get the best results. Cameras are often sucky in night time performance, and only flagships are sometimes a real exception.

Earpieces and speakers are often of very poor quality. On some phones I struggle to hear the other side well through the earpiece especially on Samsung phones. Samsung phones are the worst. They have a ton of high tech awesome features, but they completely ignore the basics, like providing the user with a good experience during a simple call or using a GPS which often doesn't work at all!

Android phones only have a good fingerprint sensor on Samung and newest Nexus 6p. Outside of that, android phones cant really boast about their fingerprint sensors.


iPhone

Very boring phones overall. No fancy "mumbo jumbo" here. Ancient, archaic OS design, virtually unchanged from the very first iPhone ever. Same god damn home button, NO BACK BUTTON! Old, boring keyboard which doesn't even have a number row! Virtually no cool options for the camera. Virtually no tweaking or customizing. What you see is what you get! It's as simple as that!


However.... And a big "however at that"...

iPhone is rock solid and stable in overall performance, user experience and stability. There are no surprises with it. It doesn't freeze. It never has any issues with GPS. It almost always sounds OK in phone conversations, and through the speaker.

The keyboard, although boring design, is 100% solid and stable and typos are not a very common thing.

There is no need to clear background apps. Phone is good at auto-managing it's resources leaving the user free to enjoy the phone. (Android does this too, but not as well)

Camera, although boring, consistently beats Android phones in "auto" shooting performance. It consistently produces better results overall than ANY android phone.
Please note that android phones can sometimes produce much better photos than the iPhone, but if you take 100 photos with each phone, the iPhone will always have a larger number of better photos.




In the end.... If you want a very stable phone, that never gives you any trouble and just works - however being a very boring, and simple phone, get an iPhone.

But, if you want an "exciting" phone, where you never know what to expect and constantly have to tinker to get more cool stuff out of it, get an Android phone. Better, yet, get a Nexus 6p. It's pretty much the only option right now IMO. Everything else just pales in comparison.

Hate Android's back button. iOS swipe from left to right is so much better. Here's hoping Google will eventually implement this and get rid of the that pesky back button! They should also get rid of the multitasking button and simply install a physical home button. In terms of button controls, Apple definitely has that nailed over Android (mute switch is also killer and finally starting to appear in some Android phones, at last!)

 

[dawheat]

Hate Android's back button. iOS swipe from left to right is so much better. Here's hoping Google will eventually implement this and get rid of the that pesky back button! They should also get rid of the multitasking button and simply install a physical home button. In terms of button controls, Apple definitely has that nailed over Android (mute switch is also killer and finally starting to appear in some Android phones, at last!)

Ugh strongly disagree there. A dedicated button to go back right at your thumb beats a swipe for such a common gesture. Bonus points for being able to use it to return to a previous app without clicking on an iOS link at the fricking top left corner.

I think Apple is hitting the limit of a single button honestly. The home double click to launch camera so it's on before it leaves your pocket is a huge help if you take regular photos. Between home and recent apps however, the iPhone is kind of stuck.

 

[mrochester]

Ugh strongly disagree there. A dedicated button to go back right at your thumb beats a swipe for such a common gesture. Bonus points for being able to use it to return to a previous app without clicking on an iOS link at the fricking top left corner.

I think Apple is hitting the limit of a single button honestly. The home double click to launch camera so it's on before it leaves your pocket is a huge help if you take regular photos. Between home and recent apps however, the iPhone is kind of stuck.

I'll take those bonus points thanks since you can 3D touch swipe from left to right to go back to the previous app. Back buttons on Android devices tend to be very inconveniently placed as they are often very low on the device. The Galaxy S6+ is a good example of a very badly placed back button (and multitasking button).

Plus there's the guesswork required to know where your Android device will actually take you back to; will it go back to the previous screen in the app you are currently in, or back to the previous app, or even just make the keyboard vanish from the screen? Who knows. Very poor and inconsistent user experience.