1 Month Post Android (For Those Considering Switching)

OptiPrime

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Jun 3, 2010
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It's been a month since I left Android for Apple so I'll give a detailed, honest review from a casual user who has largely been an Android loyalist up until this point, for anybody who is pondering switching. *
What prompted me to switch? I used Android exclusively except for a iphone 4s for a year or so when it first came out. I would always be on the lookout for the latest, most feature rich offering from Android, from the HTC One, to the Samsung Notes 4 & 5. However, when it was time for an upgrade there was nothing that really made me feel like I'd be getting a huge upgrade from my note 5.
The Note 7 had already been recalled twice and honestly even with the waterproofing and improved camera it didn't feel worth upgrading to from a Note 5, nor did the LG V20. I loved the Note series and wanted my next phone to be a Note (used the S Pen constantly). The Edge's 5.1 screen seemed a bit too small for me and also not a big enough upgrade.
*
So I started researching Apple/iOS to see how far they'd come since my 4s days and I was impressed!!
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Settled on a beautiful gold 128g 7 Plus and after having wait a few weeks for delivery (>_<) kit's been a pleasure thus far

Hardware: Beautiful device and form factor. Just as attractive as the Notes & Galaxys, better looking
than the Pixel Xl and with more refined detailing. Feels good in the hand, comfortable to hold in landscape or portrait (even for my small hands). The silent switch is a nice convenient touch. No true notification light took a few weeks to get use to but raise to wake is nice and I just set my notifications to repeat until I check them so I don’t miss anything.

The home button works extremely well and under Accessibility you can change it so the phone can be unlocked just by resting your finger on it, no need to even press down.

Speakers are very loud with no distortion that I've noticed thus far.

Battery Life is excellent. One charge lasts me one full day and into the evening on the next especially since I'm on wifi the majority of the time and keep my brightness down. And for that reason I've never run into any trouble with wanting to use headphones during the same time I'd need to be charging my phone. I charge overnight if the phone is at 50% or less and that's it.

Fast charging would be nice but wireless charging never appealed to me so that didn't matter.

Overall iOS: Very fast and seamless

Apple really does take a lot of the tweaking out of using your device so you can simply focus on the apps and content. The silent switch is useful and I love night shift so much that I keep it on most of the time. The search function (for web, phone, & apps is extremely helpful.

Being able to clear all notifications quickly is also a nice convenience.

Widgets are lacking but I knew this would be the case. Samsung offered widgets such as Places that would change settings like Bluetooth, Wifi, based upon location that I do miss. Overall, the widgets are not bad though (Calendar Music, Weather, & News all work effectively enough). Also, where Apple lacks in widget functionality they make up for it with Force Touch. Press firmly on messages to send quickly to favorite contacts, or on your Twitter icon to go straight into crafting a new tweet. Press firmly on message notification banner and you can read recent texts from that contact and reply right there. Switching between apps is a breeze, just press firmly at the left edge of the screen and you'll be able to see/switch between all open apps in card like format.

I do miss multi-window from the Note 5 and the minimize screen function is lacking. On my Note 5 I could press the home button 3x quickly and reduce the screen to the bottom right or left corner and use the phone one-handed while maintaining near full functionality. However, with iPhone you can only reduce the screen size to half vertically and once you open the keyboard the screen returns to full size.

The camera takes amazing pictures and I have no complaints here. I've used the depth effect many times for portraits of my husband and dog lol. Panorama mode frequently during the holidays for group photos and just yesterday to film the wintry landscape.

Messaging: On my Note 5 I'd go back and forth between stock messages and Messenger, and both were ok but the community behind iMessages leaves both of those in the dust. I'd say 85% of the people I text with have iPhone or at least an iPad. All the cool effects for the screen and bubbles, highlighting texts with suggested emojis. I love it all. I'm constantly playing Connect 4 with friends. Real nice to be able to access a few apps right in Messages. Also, as a person of color it's pretty cool to have access to various emoji shades. Nice touch and I don't see why it can't come to android. I'm a girly girl so I loveeee finally being able to put emojis next to my contact's names.

Keyboard: The keyboard is very nice, spacious, and comfortable. The first day adjusting I had a lot of typing errors but since then I hardly ever make any. I do miss being able to long press keys to access symbols and I don't understand why it's not included in 10.2's keyboard since they capability is there to press and hold to access diff key options just as we can with emojis.

I'm heavily invested in Google Apps since they work so seamlessly with Android but most of them are crippled on Apple. I get it but still annoying.

Chrome: I ended up switching to Safari because Chrome would crash constantly, but I've grown to like Safari. The reader view for articles is nice.

Chromecast: Functionality is crippled and I should've researched this before I purchase my 7plus but I use Chromecast almost every day. For my TV apps like Hulu, Netflix, and Hulu but I cannot stream content I'm watching purely from a browser. I'll have to use my laptop and cast from a Chrome tab.

Google Play Movies/TV: Can watch but not buy directly from app. I guess you'd have to go to the website.

Google Play Music: Works the same except, I can't access my Podcasts, I guess Apple wants me to switch to Itunes for this or Apple Music. I loaded some of my music into Apple Music but I have too many playlists already built in GPM to switch my streaming service now. But I may upgrade to a family plan on GPM and add one of my iphone friends in exchange for a spot on their Apple Music account to have the best of both worlds.

Oh, also the Apple upgrade program was a huge plus.
• Not committed to any particular carrier (I have a Sprint phone but it can switch to any of the other majors)
• AppleCare is included for a flat fee rather than pay my carrier $11/month ($132/YR.) as long as my phone is in service and then a $200 deductible on top of that

Hmm I think that's it…feel free to ask me anything but overall this isn't a comparison specifically to any current Android phone, more so just letting anyone who's thinking of switching know that I didn't find too many pains and overall I'm enjoying the iPhone experience immensely. I don't think one is better than other per say, the operating systems are just different. I'd be open to returning to Android in the future for a worthy new Samsung or HTC offering.
 

Josiah23

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Mar 22, 2015
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I too recently made a switch from Android to Apple, using the 6S Plus. I love this phone's unbelievable battery life as I haven't charged this phone since yesterday afternoon. I too wouldn't say IOS is necessarily "better" than Android it's definitely different though, it has a more unique feel to it though, OS and design wise. I have yet to see this phone lag or stutter once which is crazy since Samsung and other manufacturers kinda rely on 4 core - 8 core CPUs with 3-4GB Ram to have a smooth feel to it. This phone never heats up and never has any big battery drains as it lasts me literally all day with medium usage. I'm not going to right a whole review myself, just adding in some of my thoughts on Apple. Are iPhones better than Android? Can't really determine. Am I happy I made the switch (even though I still have both Android and Apple devices)? Absolutely.