What would be the best phone and operating system? Apple IOS or Android?

[Commodus]

I find navigating iOS much more intuitive and simpler than navigating Android. Google are clinging onto their legacy back and recent apps buttons. I wish they'd get rid of them and build this functionality into the UI already.

iOS also has the benefit of being able to sync very easily with your existing iTunes library on your computer. You just connect your phone and hit 'sync' and all your music is transferred over, no need to manually have to manage via a file manager. You also get full device backups in iTunes too.

There's also the benefit of not having to deal with/use Google products and services and supporting their anti-competitive business practices. The less people use Google, the better.

The back and recent apps buttons are part of the UI. And not every Android phone has a physical home button, so you can't just bake the multitasking menu into a button.

And remember, not everyone has an iTunes music collection, including Mac users. If you spend all of your time in Apple Music or Spotify, you don't need to plug in... and you don't need an iPhone, including for Apple Music. I agree that it's good for managing an on-device collection, just don't assume everyone else is like you.

Also, believe it or not, many people know about Google's business practices and don't believe it's the devil incarnate, even if they have concerns. I'm an iPhone owner and I still use plenty of Google services without issue. I know you treat Apple versus Google as a holy war, but that's not how it works in real life. Relax.

 

[Commodus]

I experience stuttering and occasional freezing on my iPhone 7 Plus. I experienced the same thing on my (work issued) iPhone 6S, iPhone 6, and iPhone 5S. Same goes for every Android phone I've ever had too. No phone - be it Android or iOS - has ever been lag free.

Huh, it's been glass smooth on my 7. Maybe it's the lower display res combined with the latest hardware, or maybe I'm just lucky!

 

[Oyeve]

I find navigating iOS much more intuitive and simpler than navigating Android. Google are clinging onto their legacy back and recent apps buttons. I wish they'd get rid of them and build this functionality into the UI already.

iOS also has the benefit of being able to sync very easily with your existing iTunes library on your computer. You just connect your phone and hit 'sync' and all your music is transferred over, no need to manually have to manage via a file manager. You also get full device backups in iTunes too.

There's also the benefit of not having to deal with/use Google products and services and supporting their anti-competitive business practices. The less people use Google, the better.

Dumbest post I've seen in ages.

 

[ZGR]

I prefer Android and iOS as long as both are rooted and jailbroken.

The difference however is I can use Android without root with compromises but I cannot use iOS without a jailbreak.

Android has Firefox with addon support...

Apple has superior hardware...

I installed Android on my iPhone 3G many years ago (it sucked). If I could do the same on an iPhone 7 Plus without any drawbacks with a snazzy bootloader it would be an enticing decision to switch back to Apple.

At the end of the day both Android and iOS can be really great. I don't think there is a right answer in general; but just for yourself.

Edit: I also find iTunes a cancerous piece of software. I hate having to use it to drag and drop files. At least on Android I have access to the filesystem without root. This lets me send files without a PC which makes an Android device independent.

 

[Will Thatcher]

HTC is doing the Pixel, Pixel 2 and the Pixel 3 next year so they are probably pretty busy with that.

Both the Pixel 2 and the OnePlus 5 have the 835 so between them it's obviously Pixel 2 that wins hands down (since it's got Googles official support). The LG G6 has the older 821 so it won't match up against those two.

LG V30 has the 835 so that might be an option.

Great advice and thank you for it, I will definitely take everything you said into consideration.
What about Huawei, I know that they aren't even in the same league, but they have had some good phones in the past, like the Huawei P9 when it was launched!

 

[MrSquished]

I find navigating iOS much more intuitive and simpler than navigating Android. Google are clinging onto their legacy back and recent apps buttons. I wish they'd get rid of them and build this functionality into the UI already.

iOS also has the benefit of being able to sync very easily with your existing iTunes library on your computer. You just connect your phone and hit 'sync' and all your music is transferred over, no need to manually have to manage via a file manager. You also get full device backups in iTunes too.

There's also the benefit of not having to deal with/use Google products and services and supporting their anti-competitive business practices. The less people use Google, the better.

I find the back and recent buttons to be a great part of the Android UI and I fucking hate iTunes.

 

[J.Wilkins]

Great advice and thank you for it, I will definitely take everything you said into consideration.
What about Huawei, I know that they aren't even in the same league, but they have had some good phones in the past, like the Huawei P9 when it was launched!

Nothing wrong with Huawei except that you'll almost always get worse performance for the money spent these days.

The days of Huawei being a budget brand with high performance are over.

That said, the Huawei Mate 9 is a decent phone but you'll still have trade off's like IPS instead of AMOLED and in comparison to the Pixel, horrible software support (and horrible software all around).

OTOH, it does have an SD slot.

 

[zerocool84]

I love the back and recent apps buttons on Android. Makes navigating the UI much faster. Having a large screen iPhone, ending reach all the way to the top left of the screen to go back is not ideal in any situation.

 

[Will Thatcher]

I have to agree that too large of a screen becomes annoying at times, not being able to use one hand to use the phone is troublesome.
Also, I like the fingerprint scan on the back, find it more intuitive, than on the front like the iPhones have it. Any other Android phones that should be mentioned?

 

[mrochester]

Dumbest post I've seen in ages.

Thanks for your valuable contribution

 

[Will Thatcher]

Hey guys, just took a look at the ZTE Axon Z7 and it looks and feels pretty good as well. What do you think about this one? Is it worth it?

 

[edcoolio]

Hey guys, just took a look at the ZTE Axon Z7 and it looks and feels pretty good as well. What do you think about this one? Is it worth it?

For the price, it is an excellent device. It has an AMOLED screen, takes microSD cards, great camera, gorilla glass 4, about the same speed as a Galaxy s7 (same 820 processor), and large 3250 mah battery. ATT and TMobile (and MVNO's) only.

ZTE has a good deal that for an extra $80, if you drop your phone and crack/break your LCD, they will cover you for 2 years. They also have an advance exchange option, which is awesome, if you need your device right away.

It is on par with the best of them. Not a bad plan to buy it outright, save your money, and enjoy. You really cannot go wrong if you have played with it and enjoyed the device.

 

[dark zero]

Nothing wrong with Huawei except that you'll almost always get worse performance for the money spent these days.

The days of Huawei being a budget brand with high performance are over.

That said, the Huawei Mate 9 is a decent phone but you'll still have trade off's like IPS instead of AMOLED and in comparison to the Pixel, horrible software support (and horrible software all around).

OTOH, it does have an SD slot.

*Looks at LG and Samsung acting as retarded too on SW updates and HTC overpricing the products*

Seems that the days of the good phones on Android is over... maybe is time to pick an iPhone.

Hey guys, just took a look at the ZTE Axon Z7 and it looks and feels pretty good as well. What do you think about this one? Is it worth it?

The Axon 7 is a great device... I was thinking on an old Axon Elite which is compatible with the Peruvian LTE (yeah, Peru has the most crazy LTE coverage in the Americas, only behind USA and Canada, it has bands 2,4,7,8 and 28 according to the carrier)

 

[Will Thatcher]

*Looks at LG and Samsung acting as retarded too on SW updates and HTC overpricing the products*

Seems that the days of the good phones on Android is over... maybe is time to pick an iPhone.)

The Axon Z7 is only one of the choices, but on the top of the list is the incoming One Plus 5 so you should take a look at that as well, because from what they are saying it appears to be the best one yet!

 

[J.Wilkins]

*Looks at LG and Samsung acting as retarded too on SW updates and HTC overpricing the products*

Seems that the days of the good phones on Android is over... maybe is time to pick an iPhone.

That solves absolutely nothing, at least with an android phone I have access to the source and can change it.

There are loads of good phones for Android but you won't be getting them dirt cheap any more.

 

[dark zero]

That solves absolutely nothing, at least with an android phone I have access to the source and can change it.

There are loads of good phones for Android but you won't be getting them dirt cheap any more.

That is the point of Android... Not that crazy expensive since you will custom with it. Without that... Is pretty much pointless.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Proprietary systems have more quality control, but have higher costs typically. I prefer Android because of the Linux development side that allows for some os-level control using ConnectBot or other similar command line tools....but Fisher Price for phones ain't bad either.

 

[lopri]

Edit: I also find iTunes a cancerous piece of software. I hate having to use it to drag and drop files. At least on Android I have access to the filesystem without root. This lets me send files without a PC which makes an Android device independent.

+1

I have quite a few horror stories related to iTunes. Both first-hand and second-hand. I do have iOS devices in the house for shared family use but I prefer Android for my personal use. I do give credit to Apple for the general polish of its products.

 

[J.Wilkins]

That is the point of Android... Not that crazy expensive since you will custom with it. Without that... Is pretty much pointless.

I'd pay more for an Android phone than an IPhone simply because I'm not locked into a proprietary system. The ability to do everything from upgrading kernel features beyond what the manufacturer does to changing integral parts of the OS itself is a feature I cannot do without.

However, even if I never did that I would still not call Android "pointless" as long as it's FLOSS and customizable which it is to a great degree.

For example, on my wifes Nexus 5X I can change how the fingerprint scanner works without having to root it, I can do that with a simple app. I can change launcher if i don't like it and get many new functions.

 

[Rottie]

iOS for me because I have MacBook Pro so everything sync to different devices worked perfectly. I also have LG tablet too but I don't it often.

 

[ClockHound]

iOS or Android? To me, they're both horrible. For different reasons.

1. iOS, Apple: Hardware lock-in and inflexible software created by a hardware company to create product lock-in. Vertically integrated planned obsolesce at its best. Or worst.

2. Android, from Google, the world's largest advertising company provides a 'free' OS to promote spyware and 'intelligent' advertising lock-in, but with a wide choice of hardware to lock-in to their annoy-ware ecosystem.

BONUS Horrible: Carrier lock-in - obscene data vulture charges / service charges / contract hooliganism.

Like the internet, I had great hope for pocket computers - however the distraction-based design paradigm overwhelmed both. Oh well...there's always flying cars. Sure those will be great!

 

[Commodus]

iOS or Android? To me, they're both horrible. For different reasons.

1. iOS, Apple: Hardware lock-in and inflexible software created by a hardware company to create product lock-in. Vertically integrated planned obsolesce at its best. Or worst.

2. Android, from Google, the world's largest advertising company provides a 'free' OS to promote spyware and 'intelligent' advertising lock-in, but with a wide choice of hardware to lock-in to their annoy-ware ecosystem.

BONUS Horrible: Carrier lock-in - obscene data vulture charges / service charges / contract hooliganism.

Like the internet, I had great hope for pocket computers - however the distraction-based design paradigm overwhelmed both. Oh well...there's always flying cars. Sure those will be great!

Both of those perspectives seem overly cynical to me (if not entirely unfounded).

On iOS: virtually every company aims for lock-in, including Google and numerous Android vendors (most notably Samsung). It's just a question of whether or not they're any good at it. Yes, Apple certainly has more lock-in than Android, but you do actually get something out of it.

And it's kind of funny to gripe about planned obsolescence on iOS when even Google Nexus/Pixel phones stop getting software updates after two years. Most Android OEMs seem to be in a race to abandon updates as quickly as possible -- Apple is only just dropping updates for the 2012-era iPhone 5 this year.

On the flip side: no, Android is not one massive spyware tool. There are certainly more privacy concerns than on iOS, but nor is Google watching your every move with intense interest. And it's not that annoying, at least not if you have a stock or close-to-stock Android device.

 

[ClockHound]

Both of those perspectives seem overly cynical to me (if not entirely unfounded).

On iOS: virtually every company aims for lock-in, including Google and numerous Android vendors (most notably Samsung). It's just a question of whether or not they're any good at it. Yes, Apple certainly has more lock-in than Android, but you do actually get something out of it.

And it's kind of funny to gripe about planned obsolescence on iOS when even Google Nexus/Pixel phones stop getting software updates after two years. Most Android OEMs seem to be in a race to abandon updates as quickly as possible -- Apple is only just dropping updates for the 2012-era iPhone 5 this year.

On the flip side: no, Android is not one massive spyware tool. There are certainly more privacy concerns than on iOS, but nor is Google watching your every move with intense interest. And it's not that annoying, at least not if you have a stock or close-to-stock Android device.

That companies aim for lock-in is something that does not need to be accepted or endorsed. Just because every corporation wants it, doesn't make it beneficial to the user. Open standards are the most beneficial to the user. Most mega-corporations only embrace those when they fail with proprietary approaches.

It's nice that Apple 'appears to support' older hardware, but in my experience, that once snappy hardware becomes slower and slower with every OS update. Lazy programming or by design? No user-replaceable battery. Accidental inconvenience or by design?

Actually Google/FB is watching. Purchase something on Amazon and watch the 'targeted' ads show up wherever you surf. Granted, they do this on the desktop too, after all they are an advertising company first and last. Android is just another medium for the message.

The slow or no updates on Android is actually a good thing - except for security issues. Not every OS update is an improvement. Droid 7 is a banal UI looking to emulate the banal iOS. At least on Android we can tweak the look and feel to our own taste. A pocket computer is even more personal than the personal computer - if the options to make personal are easily accessible.

Thankfully M$ is out of the mobile race. They only screw with data-mining the desktop OS now.

Overly cynical? In 2017? Me thinks you are overly naive. Enjoy it while it lasts. ;-)

 

[Red Storm]

That companies aim for lock-in is something that does not need to be accepted or endorsed. Just because every corporation wants it, doesn't make it beneficial to the user. Open standards are the most beneficial to the user. Most mega-corporations only embrace those when they fail with proprietary approaches.

It's nice that Apple 'appears to support' older hardware, but in my experience, that once snappy hardware becomes slower and slower with every OS update. Lazy programming or by design? No user-replaceable battery. Accidental inconvenience or by design?

Actually Google/FB is watching. Purchase something on Amazon and watch the 'targeted' ads show up wherever you surf. Granted, they do this on the desktop too, after all they are an advertising company first and last. Android is just another medium for the message.

The slow or no updates on Android is actually a good thing - except for security issues. Not every OS update is an improvement. Droid 7 is a banal UI looking to emulate the banal iOS. At least on Android we can tweak the look and feel to our own taste. A pocket computer is even more personal than the personal computer - if the options to make personal are easily accessible.

Thankfully M$ is out of the mobile race. They only screw with data-mining the desktop OS now.

Overly cynical? In 2017? Me thinks you are overly naive. Enjoy it while it lasts. ;-)

So what do you use then? Or do you not have a smartphone?

 

[ClockHound]

I use an iPhone 5, a Note 4 and a S7 Edge for work. I like the (rooted) Note 4 best, despite it's less than stellar performance. At least the battery can be swapped out and the stylus is great. Doesn't mean I have to fanboi for either Apple or Google - they make products and advertising vessels people appear to want. Just not me. Neither company have earned my trust. And none of their products are fashionable enough as fashion statements - slim shiny soap bars are not an object d'art in my world. Even when the soap bar is wrist worn.

For me smartphones are mobile computing tools - just another modern tool for disconnecting while being always connected to increasing noise and distraction.

These pocket computers could be much better, imo, but the lock-in, obsolescence, data-mining and carrier greed make the industry too profitable as it is. For now.