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Android vs. iPhone dilemma

ntdatter

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Hi guys,

I have a dilemma that I cannot seem to be able to solve without some inputs from you. I have been thinking of getting a new smartphone, but I cannot decide which. I have been using Android - a Samsung Galaxy SII that was given to me as a gift almost 2 years ago. At first, it was all stock, but then I learned to root and modify it. It got to the point when I was just using new ROMs almost every other day, if not every day. Eventually, I just stopped. I decided that a simple modified stock ROM was most stable. Everything else just sucked. So stability is on top of my list.

In terms of apps, most of the ones I use daily are pretty good. I can't complain about them except for a few. One of them is Micromedex Drug Info. I'm a pharmacy student so this app comes in handy often. At first I thought it was just a simple matter of information overload, but no... When I saw that app on an iPhone, I got angry. Android's Micromedex is a joke. It is significantly slower than iOS's. It is so slow that I don't bother using it anymore. Another app that is important to me is Blackboard's Learn. Despite the recent update by Blackboard, this app is still poor. It is supposed to be an app that allows me to quickly get updates from professors regarding grades, assignments, postings, etc... In short, most apps are fine on Android, but some aren't. And the ones that aren't fine are the ones I use often.

My smartphone is the source for internet for when I am at home. I share a room with a family that doesn't really use internet and I don't want to open a cable internet account so I just rely on my smartphone. It has been working well since I have Tmobile's unlimited 4G plan. I can easily tether with my rooted SII. I understand iPhone and iOs are difficult to root so I would have to deal with Tmobile's 500MB/month free hotspot feature included in the plan I have. 500MB is fine for some browsing, but definitely not for lecture recording uploading/streaming, which I do a lot. Each of my lecture recordings is some 60-120mb and I upload them to Box/Copy. Even if my SII was not rooted, I could easily upload the files via the clouds' apps. I just connect my phone to my laptop, drag and drop the files into the phone's storage. And from there upload to the clouds. Occasionally, I also upload a bunch of different file types via this method. I don't know if this can be done in iPhone. Can someone with an iPhone tell me?

Abridged version of above paragraphs:

I am looking for a new phone - faster, newer, LTE... you name it.

I want stable apps - most android apps work, some suck. The ones that suck are the ones I use...

I want to tether - I may be able to live with 500MB tethering for basic browsing.

I want to freely upload/download any file type using the phone and then just transfer the file to my laptop. I know my android can do this easily. I have no idea how it would be done in iPhone/iOS.

I would appreciate any input from you. Thank you!
 
Welcome!

I've used iPhones and Android. I've jailbroken and rooted my devices. IMO, both have advantages and disadvantages. For me, first and foremost, the device is a phone so call quality is a top priority. My experience, iPhone is better.

My first iPhone (3G I think) was with AT&T. Love the phone despised the carrier. After numerous dropped calls and complaints, AT&T agreed not to charge me an early termination fee. My only option, Android. My Android (Moto) was a nice device. Decent call quality.

All my home equipment is Apple so I purchased a 4S. Great call quality.

Like you, I swapped ROM's frequently. I've not swapped as much on my 4S but I found iOS much more forgiving than Android.

I just purchased a 5 S. The LTE is faster. Since there is no jailbreak for iOS7 I can't comment. I do plan on jailbreaking as soon as a solution is available.

Unlike Android, I've not had any iOS apps force close.

I did use my rooted Android to tether to my MBP while traveling. I've not tried with my jailbroken 4S but it is doable. I chose not to spend $20 for the app :eek:

I've not had any issues transferring data between my devices. If iCloud does not work, I go to iFunBox.

Perhaps I'm wrong but I have the sense that the iOS apps are slightly more expensive but they are, IMO, more polished/refined.

If you are willing to spend the time to get acclimated to iOS I think you will be happy. Most carries give you a 14 day return policy. This may not be a fair comparison to your rooted Android since iOS 7 does not yet have a jailbreak solution.

I hope this is helpful.

Mike
 
I just switched from android (several phones over 6 years) to my first iPhone. (5s) I am liking it a lot. I was worried about the tethering as well, but discovered Verizon doesn't charge extra for tethering (just turn on Personal Hotspot on the Settings page) on my plan (share everything - 6gb for 3 phones) so that has been good as well.
 
Personally I cut out the VS and just buy both :D I have jelly bean run cameras/phones and ios ones as well..

both are very good
 
I have been a long time android user. I just switched to the iPhone 5s silver 64gb and could not be happier. (I came from the galaxy s3)
 
haha, i would buy both if i had the money!

but anyways, a friend with an unused iphone 4 let me borrow it to test. I'm going to have to stick with android due to my specific needs. awesome phone, i just can't use it yet.
 
I'll give you my slant

I have had every phone going as I can't ever make my mind up which is best either apple or android

I purchased the 5s and returned it a week later as the screen was to small , I then went for the note 3
I had horrendous issues of reboot problems which the note 3 has , to get out of the loop issue meant a factory reset which meant manually installing ever app again

Yes big difference between the screen the note 3 will fit at least 2 iPhone 5s in however I'm sure I will get use to that

It is going back to where I got it from and guess what I've gone back to yep you guessed it the iPhone 5s
Went for 64gb space grey .... The girl at apple showed me a few tweaks to make the size better (I found browser pages were or small). Now love my iPhone 5s I attached to iTunes and everything wrote to the phone no manual installing and all my music copied over
You don't get that on android


I have had

Htc desire
Htc desire hd

Htc sensation
iPhone 4
Galaxy s2
Note 1
iPhone 4S
Galaxy s3
Note 2
iPhone 5
Htc one
Samsung s4
iPhone 5s
Note 3

Back to 5s

I intend to stick to the 5s until apple release a bigger screen

Also something goes wrong you go back to apple and it's replaced there and then
Something goes wrong with any android you lose your phone for weeks

Get the iPhone 5s you will never look back
 
I came from a galaxy s3 to a 5s.think I prefer the s3

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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I'm coming from the HTC One. Should have the 5S Nov 4th hope I can deal with the smaller screen. Most of the apps I use have a similar or equal too, in the app store. I'm getting bored with Android, just hope I don't miss all the Roms, customizations and stuff. My wife and kids all have Iphones so it shouldn't to bad of a switch.

You'll have to show me those tweaks @mancuk29.
 
I had a Galaxy Nexus before my 5s. I like the 5s and am not sure I would switch back to Android. Although the screen is smaller, it's brighter and viewable in bright sunlight. I like getting updates direct from Apple instead of waiting forever to get them from Verizon. I'll miss flashing roms, but iOS is much less buggy. The standby battery life is much better. I miss Swiftkey though.
 
I like iOS devices because the update method is more reliable.

Google didn't invent Android, but they are in charge of Android development. However, they are not in charge of sending out updates on non-Nexus devices. Here's how that works:

1. The manufacturer, for instance HTC, grabs a copy of Android, modifies it, and installs it on a new device
2. The consumer (that's you) buys the new device with the hope of future updates
3. If, and I do mean if, HTC decides they want to update that particular device, then the consumer will eventually get the update. However, the manufacturer is under no obligation to release updates. And, updates take a while because the manufacturer may have flooded the market with dozens of devices for which they must maintain.

I was on an Android-based Motorola phone and Motorola promised updates to the next version of Android. And they kept promising.. and kept promising. Then Motorola released a statement that their custom skin overlay, named motoblur, was too difficult to integrate into the next revision of Android, so this particular phone wasn't going to be getting any further updates. Let me put that another way. My phone was no longer getting updates because the skin was too difficult to implement into Android. So, no more updates or security fixes. It would have been a different story had Google been releasing updates, or forbade manufacturers from incorporating their own custom skins, but that was not the case. Keep in mind that this can happen at any time with any non-Nexus device.

Not long after that I dumped Android altogether, bought the iPhone 4S and have never been happier. iOS devices are updated longer than Android devices anyway, so we're better off with iOS, in my opinion.
 
Yeah. I can see why you miss SwiftKey. I started using it a while ago. It is so nice, especially since it supports multiple languages. It allows me to switch between languages so easily. More importantly, it makes typing Vietnamese so much faster.

I honestly say still cannot decide which phone I want to get. They all have advantages and disadvantages. Right now it's between 3 phones: iPhone, note 3, and nexus 5.....
 
I'm curious how carriers (e.g. Tmobile) keeps track of our tethering if we buy the phone directly from Apple. Is the tethering restriction built-in with iOS with no additional Tmobile restrictions added? I can see how Tmobile could add in some thing(s) if we were to buy the phones from it, but what if it's directly from Apple?

I understand that with a device like the Nexus 4, you can essentially tether freely since there is no built-in restriction. Of course, Tmobile detects your browser and redirects you to tethering page, but there is a way around it with user agent switchers and other stuff.
 
I definitely prefer the ios system due to the app availability. Even though there are now different versions of apps for iphone and ipad an existing iphone app version will work on an ipad. In fact quite a few times i prefer the iphone version over the ipad version. I have found a case where the amex credit card app i'm not able to download it to a samsung galaxy tab 2 7.0 i get the message 'this version is not compatible with your device' come on this not some offbrand knockoff. Also when i neded apps for my trip to china like trains, subways, english to chinese dictionary alot of time i found the variety lacking in the google play store
 
If I may chime in. Quite a few things come to mind. Also coming from android, rooted and flashed. Loving the reliability of the 5s. My SGS2 would randomly freeze and not budge until I rebooted. Navigation would lock up and also have to be rebooted. Occasionally will do all day runs in company truck for drivers on vacation and since I'm not sure where all the stops are, I rely on on maps. Can't be rebooting in the middle of a run all the time. Which brings up the battery.
WOW is all I can say. Absolutely the best battery life on my 5s. 5 hours out the last time and only down to 62%. I would have had to change out the battery on the SGS2, of which I have 4. Also never dropped GPS through the tunnels around here which surprised me. 12 hours today, light browsing and a few phone calls and down to 75%. Absolutely killer standby and very good usage.
Safari is the best browser I've used to date. Intuitive, easy to navigate and fast. I find myself reading a lot more on my 5s than even my Nexus 7. Never read much on android cause I hate waiting. Click the next page and have to wait. 4G/LTE connects almost instantly. Wifi not so much at work. Places I used to get connections I can't seem to get a signal. But it was glitchy at best any way. At home, connects instantly.
Almost returned it but decided to give it a few more days. I'm impressed. Liked the weight and feel of my brothers 4s better, but prefer the new A7 chip.
I've got Tiger Woods Golf on Nexus 7, SGS2 and my IPhone 5s. On both androids I have to sit and wait for the next hole to load. Not on this baby. Bang it's up. I guess the 5s dual core actually does outrun my Nexus 7's over clocked quad core.
Beautiful phone. Very well made even if a bit slippery. Waiting for my new protector to arrive. I own 8 other phones, collected over the last 10 years but this will now be my daily carry. Could use a bit more tweaks but I'm guessing that's why it runs so well. You can't screw with it to much.
Will definitely be jail breaking it, if and when one comes out but won't be playing with it, too much.....
Was never a fan of Apple, started with android on the G1, but I'm a convert now.
Buy an IPhone? Yeah ! I think you should .

Sent from crz's iPhone using iPF.net
 
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