Thinking of switching from iphone to android

[ViviTheMage]

Good to know, thanks Megatomic... just got an invite so thinking of picking a OPO up

 

[MrSquished]

I'm SOOO in love with the M8, I completely understand why you'd opt to go that route. About my One+, it's an amazing phone and I would think so even if I had paid $500 for it. I have no yellow and I seem to not experience any of the other issues I see various people posting about. The unique thing about the OS is the lack of a skin and the customizability of it. It's 99% stock android which is perfect for me as I prefer the GPE. I've made my OPO into a GPE edition.

I really love the m8 as well. more than my nexus 5 for sure - the only thing is that it won't get updates as fast. mine is rooted, going to probably try to convert it to a GPE m8 though after reading more about it.

the HTC One M8 is by far my favorite android phone to date.

 

[Cogman]

My wife as a samsung galaxy S4, I have the nexus 5. Of the two, I think the Nexus 5 wins hands down. Samsung just puts too much garbage in their phone. The nexus 5 just feels much more responsive and does everything you want it to do. My wife doesn't use a single one of the inbuilt samsung crap apps (If I could do it over, we would both be on nexus 5s now).

That said, today if I were getting a new phone I would probably wait for the imminent release of the Nexus 6, or look into some other manufacturer. I would not, however, touch the samsumg phone with a 10' pool. I really don't like them.

 

[bradly1101]

For me the micro-SD slot was the decision maker. It's nice having a 64GB card in there with all my media, so I got a Galaxy.

 

[bononos]

Soo, seems to be lots of droid phones out there. I have had my ios phones for about 6 years now. I kind of want to make the switch. I used to dislike droid phones because the interface was laggy compared to my ios, but that seems to have finally be fixed, and the group text messaging with ios/droid users too. I am not sure I care what the new iphones bring to the table either. I will be sad I wont have all of my already paid for apps/games, but whatever, i'll move on.
......

Was the change in the lagginess because of performance improvements post Android 4.x or is it because phones have more memory (512-1Gb) now?

 

[desura]

Stick with the iPhone. Seriously.

When I compare my Moto X to my freaking iPod touch 5g, the iPod touch 5g is better in many many ways. It feels snappier and more immersive. I can use it longer without feeling dizzy. Android phones definitely win on specs, but because of some fundamental software architecture choices iOS devices punch way above their weight. Like, 1gb in iOS is worth at least 2gb if not more on Android devices.

 

[Crono]

Stick with the iPhone. Seriously.

When I compare my Moto X to my freaking iPod touch 5g, the iPod touch 5g is better in many many ways. It feels snappier and more immersive. I can use it longer without feeling dizzy. Android phones definitely win on specs, but because of some fundamental software architecture choices iOS devices punch way above their weight. Like, 1gb in iOS is worth at least 2gb if not more on Android devices.

If iOS, Android, and Windows Phone were released today and had not come out in that order over the course of a few years, I honestly think Apple's market share would be around what they have in the desktop space. iOS is uglier and it's UI less suited for mobile than Windows Phone, and it's less flexible or customizable than Android.

But since iOS does have the headstart over the other two, there is something to be said about having the priority ecosystem for a lot of developers.

I've been using iOS since iOS 4 (on the iPad 1), Android since 4.1/Jelly Bean (Nexus 7), and Windows Phone since 7.0 (Dell Venue Pro), and as hardware and software has matured on all the platforms iOS is still the one I can't stand to use on a phone. It seems to better on the iPads, but iOS 7 especially was one step forward and two steps back for Apple as far as UI. I don't care if it's snappy because Windows Phone and Android are - for all intents and purposes, I don't care about benchmarking - as snappy on equally priced hardware, at least from devices like the One M8 and the Lumia 1520, which I've personally owned and compared head-to-head with the 5S. If you are that sensitive to speed that it makes you dizzy to use Android that sound more like a specific medical condition applicable to you and a small subset of users than something that would bother most people (much like how iOS 7 purportedly was making people nauseous when it was first released).

There isn't anything "immersive" about iOS on an iPhone to me: the interface alternates between eye-searing white and overly-bright pastels, while managing to have tiny touch targets and icons as a holdover from 2007 (and the translucencies are Vista-esque). "Frustrating" is the word I'd use. Parallax and the animations they use don't add much, either, and on a screen of that size I'm not sure how immersive it could really be unless you are using it as an AR/VR device like Google Cardboard.

Apple was supposed to have moved away from skeumorphism, but they did a half-assed job and iOS doesn't look consistent. Android, on the other hand, has moved toward a more consistent aesthetic and has only gotten faster, even on low-end devices.

I'm not locked to any ecosystem so if the iPhone 6 and iOS 8 are actually a big improvement I may just buy an iPhone, but it really would have to be a drastic departure. The iPhone used to be the prettiest phone in town, but I'd say HTC has them beat there, too.

Vivi, I doubt you'll regret going to Android, especially if you are a power user. Doing stuff like SSHing into a server is way better using an app on a 4.7" to 6" device than a 4" one; you have access to root if you want on Android, which allows for overclocking, using firewalls, better battery management and backup, etc.; you can actually use microSDs (Windows Phone 8.1 has native app install to microSD support, as well) and USB OTG; NFC support on most mid-range and high-end phones (on Windows Phone as well - possibly coming to iPhone 6); and you don't have to jailbreak to get apps from third-party app stores (there are some trustworthy open source sites I like to use in addition to Play). The OnePlus One looks to be an excellent phone, too, and makes much more sense at $300-$350 than an iPhone at $600 to $700. Pocket that difference and you could easily get all the paid apps you might need with plenty of money left over. The M8 is a very good phone, though, so I might give a slight edge to that even after considering price. But the next iteration is coming out soon, so I would probably wait till fall.

I can't think of a single "must have" iOS/iPhone feature that would tempt me to switch over to an iPhone right now.

Note: all that said, I'm actually in the processing of building a Pi phone for fun But it's much lower specs than almost all smartphones, and more expensive than the OPO when all is said and done...

 

[theeedude]

Make sure there is a manufacturer commitment to update to Android L, whatever phone you decide to get.

 

[blairharrington]

OP, what about Android are you interested in?

I left my iPhone after 5 years for an S4 Active and I'm thinking about getting an iPhone 6 now that we are getting proper screen sizes.

I can only speak for my personal uses but there is nothing about Android that has really impressed me. If anything the overall app quality is inferior to iOS. But for now using a screen larger than 4" is more important to me than anything else.

 

[jpeyton]

I'd say S5, G3 or M8. Go to any Best Buy or carrier store and try them in hand.

 

[ViviTheMage]

Was the change in the lagginess because of performance improvements post Android 4.x or is it because phones have more memory (512-1Gb) now?

from what iv'e seen 2gb-3gb is the norm for memory now.... and droid apparently 3.7 saw a huge improvement in lagginess.

I took some more time out and played with the LG G3, HTC ONE M8, Galaxy S5 ... I really like them all for different reasons ... I just need to find out what reasons I want to make my priority, haha.

I also really enjoy my ios phone, have for 6-7 years, but I am a bit bored of it. I don't think ios 8 will be that ground breaking.

Either way, I will wait until the new iphones are announces before I purchase. If the iphone 5.5 or 4.7 have more features of what I want, i'll swing it instead. Bonus is I don't have to rebuy my apps ... I dread rebuying navigon europe and US, that's like $100 right there.

After playing with these 5-5.5" screens, I really don't like my iphone 5 anymore, it's so damn tiny.

unranked reuqiements:

battery life
removable battery
sd slot for more memory
screen size 5-5.5" screen
non laggy interface
works with incipio feather case (my all time favorite case)


or shit, maybe wait for snapdragon 805 ... haha.

What devices are for sure getting Android L?

 

[Megatomic]

The HTC One M8 and the Moto X and G are, I've seen the manufacturer announcements for those. LG Nexus 5 also, that's a given.

 

[ViviTheMage]

I wish the Nexus '6' was announced, I really like the look of it and the stock android is appealing.

Any good announcements coming up for new phones, maybe with snapdragon 805?

 

[Megatomic]

The Snapdragon 805 will probably show up in new Samsung phones first, which is a plus for you since they are the manu that supports two of your required features: removable battery and micro SD card slot.

 

[ViviTheMage]

The samsung galaxy S5 prime or LTE-A has it ... that's why I was curious. It's in korea only and cost $700 out of pocket, so pass right now, haha. I was hoping to re-up my 2 years with ATT, as I have no plans for switching out of my unlimited data plan right now.

 

[Red Storm]

The samsung galaxy S5 prime or LTE-A has it ... that's why I was curious. It's in korea only and cost $700 out of pocket, so pass right now, haha. I was hoping to re-up my 2 years with ATT, as I have no plans for switching out of my unlimited data plan right now.

I used to use my renewals on the new iPhone model. Would immediately sell it and then use that money to get the phone I really wanted.

 

[ViviTheMage]

Yeah, I might do that too, unless snapdragon 805 phone is release and of decent quality.... or shit, use the funds for an LTE-A samsung galaxy s5.