One month with HTC One from a former iPhone user

[Viva Terlingua]

I've been using an HTC One for about a month now and if I had to do it over again I would not switch. In a nutshell, each has it's advantages and disadvantages and I don't think either one is that much better to be worth the hassle of changing. For that reason I would not recommend to someone that is comfortable with Android make the switch to an iPhone either.

The main reason I switched was for the larger screen and the HTC One screen is definitely superior to the screen on my iPhone 4. But, for that added screen real estate I had to give up one handed use, and I'm not sure I'm happy with that trade. I used the iPhone without a case. I use a case with the One, not for protection, but to make it easier to grip. I also miss the home button on the iPhone, it's more inconvenient to reach up and get to the power button on the One. I also found the buttons on the iPhone easier to access/press, yet at the same time less likely to press accidentally.

My biggest complaint about iOS on the iPhone was the hassle of having to dig down a couple of menus to turn bluetooth on and off. It looks like Apple is fixing that in iOS 7, so that will no longer be an issue. I installed Power Toggles on my One and that definitely helps, but I never worried about turning wifi or gps off on the iPhone because the battery life was so good. Battery life has been good for me on the One, not as good as the iPhone 4, but I haven't had any problems making it through the day.

My other annoyances with iOS have to do with way iOS handles files and photo management. But since I use my iPad mostly for those tasks, they are not that much of a bother on the iPhone.

One of the big advantages of Android is the ability to customize everything. This is also a curse as well because it can require some digging to find apps to do what you want and also predicting how they will interact with each other. For me, this ability to customize was not really an advantage. Much of this customization is geared towards how your home screens look. To me, I don't really care how my home screen looks, I'm just interested in getting to an app as fast as possible, and I think both phones are equal in that regard. Much is made of widgets, but I just haven't seen any that are essential. It seems like the 2 most popular widgets are calendar widgets and weather widgets. Personally, I know what my events are for today, I need a calendar app to view future events, so you need to open the app anyway. Likewise with weather, I'm more interested in the forecast than current weather, so again you're better off opening the full app.

My other complaint about Android is although most iPhone apps have Android equivalents, there are a few that I have not been able to find suitable replacements for. One advantage of Android is that there seems to be more decent free or low cost apps than there are for iOS.

One thing I like about Android is the tight integration with Google since we're a Google shop at work. Gmail is better on the One, but it is very good on iOs as well, so that's not a big advantage. I do not like the native calendar apps on either the iPhone or the One. So I used Calengoo on the iPhone and aCalendar on the One. aCalendar is far superior, I found Calengoo to be very laggy as you had to wait for it to sync every time you opened it up. Also, viewing a calendar on the One's larger screen is much more helpful. Likewise with tasks, I wanted something that synced with Google tasks. The default tasks app does on the One, but I didn't like it and installed one called Tasks. I find it superior to GeeTasks which I was using on the iPhone.

At first I was disappointed in the default keyboard on the One. I thought because it was larger I would be able to type easier than on the iPhone. But, for some reason that was not the case. However, I installed Swiftkey and am very happy with my typing experience.

Will I return to the iPhone? Not with their current lineup. I had the iPhone 5 for a while and returned it because of wifi problems. If a new iPhone comes out, even an iPhone 5s, that corrects these problems, I may. Although by that time I may be so used to my One that it won't be worth the effort.

 

[Aquila]

Thanks for sharing your experiences. Is the One the only Android device that you have tried out? For weather I really like Google Now's presentation, and it's an easy one click from there to the extremely detailed forecasts, including hour by hour. That's caused me to drop all the previous weather apps that I used to have except for notification weather (puts the next few days forecast in your notification bar, so you don't have to waste screen real estate for it).

 

[Viva Terlingua]

Thanks for sharing your experiences. Is the One the only Android device that you have tried out? For weather I really like Google Now's presentation, and it's an easy one click from there to the extremely detailed forecasts, including hour by hour. That's caused me to drop all the previous weather apps that I used to have except for notification weather (puts the next few days forecast in your notification bar, so you don't have to waste screen real estate for it).

Yes the One is the only Android device I have tried.

I have a unique requirement for my weather apps. I own some getaway property west of Big Bend National Park. It is 80 miles from any normal weather monitoring points with mountains in between. So, most weather apps do not have accurate weather info for that location. However, Weather Underground has monitoring stations nearby, so I use their app.

 

[duytuanbme]

I have to agree with you. I just also switch from my 4s to One. Each phone and OS has its own pros and cons
When it comes down to listening music by headphone, iPhone just nailed it. Apple proves to me that they pay very much attention to user experience, simply by switching songs and adjust volume just by using the Earpod. On the other hand, the One is incapable of doing so, though I've installed some apps that control the headphone, they just won't work. So when I'm on the street, I cannot switch my song and I have to reach to my pocket to adjust volume by the One's button. There are also some features that iPhone surpasses such as the physical ringer/silent switch, the quality of apps (for example Facebook on Android is nowhere near its version on iOS)
However Android, or One specifically, stands many advantages too. I am freely transfer files by using AirDroid instead of using the "almighty" iTunes. Apps installation is easy with APK files. In terms of screen size and entertainment, the One wins hands down. Boomsound and the full HD 4.7" Screen are just perfect for music, movies and games. Beats Audio provides best music experience so far.
Well it has always been my dream that there is a phone with the appearance of One and run iOS from Apple. Just hoping...

 

[bripat22]

As a former devoted iPhone user, I think the complaint about the home button , about the silliest one that I've ever heard frankly. Reach up , people Reach up,!

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[tamaudio]

I'm an iPhone convert as well. The only thing I really had to get used to was no home button and the power button being on the opposite side, that threw me for days. I think the One is better, the gmail app is better, and as was said the Google integration is so good it's stupid. Typing on the One is a bit of a pain and I can't yet justify spending $$ on a keyboard, the tracing feature is so good I probably won't ever buy a keyboard. Although I came from a 4 without Siri the voice recognition with Now is insanely accurate. I was a little disappointed with how android handles my iTunes music, but such is life. I broke down and bought iSyncr to seamlessly port my music. Overall I'm really happy I switched.

 

[Viva Terlingua]

I'm an iPhone convert as well. The only thing I really had to get used to was no home button and the power button being on the opposite side, that threw me for days. I think the One is better, the gmail app is better, and as was said the Google integration is so good it's stupid. Typing on the One is a bit of a pain and I can't yet justify spending $$ on a keyboard, the tracing feature is so good I probably won't ever buy a keyboard. Although I came from a 4 without Siri the voice recognition with Now is insanely accurate. I was a little disappointed with how android handles my iTunes music, but such is life. I broke down and bought iSyncr to seamlessly port my music. Overall I'm really happy I switched.

I definitely miss the home button.

Swiftkey has a free trial. Give it a try, I think you'll find it worth the money to purchase.

 

[Nemephosis]

That is strange, Viva, because I am in the same boat as you. I've had my HTC One for about 5 weeks coming off an iPhone 4, and I'm questioning my sanity for not switching sooner. The typing experience is so much better, the autocorrect is better, the screen is better, just everything about it is so much better. It might be a slightly unfair comparison here, as the iPhone 4 is nearing three years old by now, and the One is a 2013 smartphone, so DUH of course things will be improved all around. It did take about a week before I could feel completely comfortable with it, but after that, I really came to love it.

I just find it interesting two people in roughly the same situation can have such wildly differing opinions.

 

[RobCMass]

I dont miss the home button but I am having to press the touch home button several times but Ive heard this is an issue they are aware of

 

[madlaw1071]

Seems like most of OP's complaints are that he picked the wrong Android device not the OS itself. Other Android flagships have much better button layouts, dedicated home buttons, easy access to settings toggles and higher capacity batteries. Perhaps a little more upfront research would have led to a better Android experience since the One does not represent the entire OS.

 

[JNordgren]

I'm in the "switched and am (almost) completely happy" camp too. I have been on iPhone since the first price drop on the original. I do have a few minor issues but they're small enough that the pros far outweigh them. The stock headphones are only 1 button, and the music control on 3 button headphones seems to be a mess on Android (at least partly Apple's fault with thier "do it my own way"-ness), but it looks like I have found a few likely candidates for an aftermarket set that will work (aJays Five look very nice when they become available, or Nokia Puresound). Also, I miss text and email notifications waking the screen. There are some workarounds (WidgetLocker + NiLS) but I don't want to pay for WidgetLocker when 4.2 will provide the same functionality when it is available. For the moment Textra can at least wake the lock screen and show a partial notification in the notification bar, that is holding me over for now.

I am a big fan of Swiftkey as well. I love the typing experience and it is well worth the small price, IMO. For calendars, I agree the stock one is ****, but the Google Calendar app is very sufficient for my needs. I haven't found a completely satisfactory Contacts app, the stock one is servicable and it works well enough that I'm using it at the moment, but I would definitely switch if I could find something better. I tried Contacts+, but there seems to be a bug where it tries to sync and force me to connect when I try to turn some of the accounts off (I don't want or need Twitter sync, for instance).

I am loving the camera, we took a trip down to San Diego a couple of weekends ago, and I used it almost as much as my beloved D300. Zoes are cool, I love the panorama mode, and slow motion video is really cool too. The screen and speakers are, of course, incredible and I don't need to say much there. Batterly life seems to be on par with my 4, but that was 2 years old, so is probably better on a new iPhone.

One interesting thing is I can't believe how TINY my wife's iPhone 4 seems when I use it now, seems almost like a toy. Overall, my recommedation on switching or not would depend on an individual user, but in general I would say it's well worth switching. For instance, the wifey hates Android, I thought I would get her feet wet with a Nexus 7 and it's just not the right fit for her, so she is probably going to upgrade to an iPhone 5 or 5s when it comes out.

 

[tamaudio]

Have you looked into Jaybirds at all? I don't know if you're looking for bluetooth functionality at all but these work perfectly with the One. Skip track/play/pause/phone functions.

Bluetooth Headphones by JayBird : Bluetooth Stereo Headphones : Bluetooth Stereo Headset Headphones : iPhone Bluetooth Headphones : iPod Bluetooth Headphones : Jaybirdgear.com

 

[Jon Leunen]

I switched to the One from iPhone and have switched back. I prefer Android to iOS and like the Sense UI, but the hardware features of the One were unsatisfactory. Software can always be updated, but hardware is permanent.

- The power button needs to be on the side of the phone, opposite the volume rocker. Reaching to the top every time to lock/unlock a phone of this size is uncomfortable. The Galaxy S4 and Xperia Z have their power button placement right.

- There's no mute switch. With the iPhone I can mute the phone in my pocket by feel. With the One I have to pull the phone out and go to the lock screen.

- The home button on the iPhone is more useful. It's an alternative button to get to the lock screen and holding it lets you access voice commands/Siri without having to unlock your phone. As far as I know, there is no one button access on the One for Google Now.

- The volume rocker is textured, which is nice, but is flush with the phone. When the phone was in my pocket, I couldn't tell intuitively which button was which. The iPhone and Galaxy S line have raised buttons.

- The controls on the included earbuds suck. The only reason I'm reaching into my pocket to adjust the volume at all is because the earbuds only have one button, which only has controls for play/pause and redial. The iPhone has a volume rocker, track controls, and voice commands. HTC does not have a headset with the same features. I'm a runner so this was the dealbreaker.

The One is cumbersome to use compared to the iPhone or the Galaxy S4, the controls are simply too limited. It's a great phone otherwise. If HTC can address these issues on the next iteration, I'd happily give them another shot.

 

[estebancam]

Good thoughts on your experience.

In my mind, here the things that would make me never go to an iPhone again (I had an iPhone 4 once).

- Lack of a notification light.
- Lack of a file manager...... i seriously, seriously don't understand how anyone can use an iOS device in place of a computer without this. Or even for getting anything done. This is an absolute necessity for any computing platform, just a way to manage files within the device itself. I don't know how more people don't complain about this...
- Serious lack of custimzeability..... what if I don't like the stock keyboard? What if I don't like stock messaging? Browser? Etc..... cant really change those things to default on iOS.
- No real useful voice assistant (this is a new difference after Android 4.1).... Google Now is unmatched. Period.
- No NFC. This is a very useful technology. Making payments, transferring small files, pairing with speakers and other things.... I use NFC tags at home and at work. When I get to work, I tap on my NFC tag and it puts my phone in work mode, changing everything from ringer, to volume, to brightness, bluetooth, and even opens up an app for me. When I am in my car, car mode, and when I am at home... home mode.
- I can't change the home screen. I can pick up anyone's iPhone and be able to use it. Not the case with Android because I make my phone exclusively MINE. There is no notification bar, I have no app drawer on the bottom, and my quick gestures allow me to access things faster. I use a little bit more battery life getting all this done, but it makes my phone mine. I really like that.
- What's up the email app?! Why can't I attach anything other than one picture from the gallery to that app? WHy can't I attach a file like a spreadsheet, or a PDF? How any business person has been able to use an iPhone is beyond me....

$0.02

 

[madlaw1071]

I switched to the One from iPhone and have switched back. I prefer Android to iOS and like the Sense UI, but the hardware features of the One were unsatisfactory. Software can always be updated, but hardware is permanent.

- The power button needs to be on the side of the phone, opposite the volume rocker. Reaching to the top every time to lock/unlock a phone of this size is uncomfortable. The Galaxy S4 and Xperia Z have their power button placement right.

- There's no mute switch. With the iPhone I can mute the phone in my pocket by feel. With the One I have to pull the phone out and go to the lock screen.

- The home button on the iPhone is more useful. It's an alternative button to get to the lock screen and holding it lets you access voice commands/Siri without having to unlock your phone. As far as I know, there is no one button access on the One for Google Now.

- The volume rocker is textured, which is nice, but is flush with the phone. When the phone was in my pocket, I couldn't tell intuitively which button was which. The iPhone and Galaxy S line have raised buttons.

- The controls on the included earbuds suck. The only reason I'm reaching into my pocket to adjust the volume at all is because the earbuds only have one button, which only has controls for play/pause and redial. The iPhone has a volume rocker, track controls, and voice commands. HTC does not have a headset with the same features. I'm a runner so this was the dealbreaker.

The One is cumbersome to use compared to the iPhone or the Galaxy S4, the controls are simply too limited. It's a great phone otherwise. If HTC can address these issues on the next iteration, I'd happily give them another shot.

Serious question...why didn't you get an S4 instead of going back to iPhone since it would have addressed your complaints about the One?

 

[Nemephosis]

Good thoughts on your experience.

In my mind, here the things that would make me never go to an iPhone again (I had an iPhone 4 once).

- Lack of a notification light.
- Lack of a file manager...... i seriously, seriously don't understand how anyone can use an iOS device in place of a computer without this. Or even for getting anything done. This is an absolute necessity for any computing platform, just a way to manage files within the device itself. I don't know how more people don't complain about this...
- Serious lack of custimzeability..... what if I don't like the stock keyboard? What if I don't like stock messaging? Browser? Etc..... cant really change those things to default on iOS.
- No real useful voice assistant (this is a new difference after Android 4.1).... Google Now is unmatched. Period.
- No NFC. This is a very useful technology. Making payments, transferring small files, pairing with speakers and other things.... I use NFC tags at home and at work. When I get to work, I tap on my NFC tag and it puts my phone in work mode, changing everything from ringer, to volume, to brightness, bluetooth, and even opens up an app for me. When I am in my car, car mode, and when I am at home... home mode.
- I can't change the home screen. I can pick up anyone's iPhone and be able to use it. Not the case with Android because I make my phone exclusively MINE. There is no notification bar, I have no app drawer on the bottom, and my quick gestures allow me to access things faster. I use a little bit more battery life getting all this done, but it makes my phone mine. I really like that.
- What's up the email app?! Why can't I attach anything other than one picture from the gallery to that app? WHy can't I attach a file like a spreadsheet, or a PDF? How any business person has been able to use an iPhone is beyond me....

$0.02

-With the notification light, you can use the iPhone's LED camera flash as one, apparently. I had no idea until literally today. I was standing in line buying some groceries after work and someone's phone went off, and their LED started flashing. So, neat, might have been nice to know when I still had service to my iPhone, lol.

-iPhone users just want things to work. They don't want to be bothered with stuff like that. Being one for as long as I was, I know.

-Nope, you're stuck. Again though, most people using an iPhone don't want to be bothered. They want to just do their thing. There's nothing wrong with that.

-Never used Google Now, can't comment on it. Just doesn't interest me.

-I don't have a use for NFC, at least yet.

-That's something I;m coming to love about Android. My phone is mine. My launchers, my icon arrangement, my widgets, my setup is likely unique to me. Not so with an iPhone user, where every iOS device with widgets has the same weather and stock widget in the notification center.

-I thought business people used Blackberries, they ARE business phones after all... is anyone seriously using an iPhone for that?

 

[Farish]

Serious question...why didn't you get an S4 instead of going back to iPhone since it would have addressed your complaints about the One?

Because Apple makes a superior 5 inch screen, more accesible removable battery, and microsd slot.

 

[Jon Leunen]

Serious question...why didn't you get an S4 instead of going back to iPhone since it would have addressed your complaints about the One?

Laziness. I didn't sell my old phone, so when I returned the One I just went back rather than getting a new phone and transferring all my files again. More importantly, I don't like the build quality, which is why I went with the One in the first place. Samsung says they go with plastic to save weight, but the One is almost as light so that's a crock. The iPhone is well-built and functional, so I'll stick with that until either HTC fixes the One or Samsung stops going cheap with it's components.

 

[Viva Terlingua]

Seems like most of OP's complaints are that he picked the wrong Android device not the OS itself. Other Android flagships have much better button layouts, dedicated home buttons, easy access to settings toggles and higher capacity batteries. Perhaps a little more upfront research would have led to a better Android experience since the One does not represent the entire OS.

I chose the One because it was supposed to be the easiest one to transition to for an iPhone user.

I didn't want a nexus because of lack of lte and marginal battery life.

Touch wiz gave me pause on the s4.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[Viva Terlingua]

One interesting thing is I can't believe how TINY my wife's iPhone 4 seems when I use it now, seems almost like a toy. Overall, my recommedation on switching or not would depend on an individual user, but in general I would say it's well worth switching. For instance, the wifey hates Android, I thought I would get her feet wet with a Nexus 7 and it's just not the right fit for her, so she is probably going to upgrade to an iPhone 5 or 5s when it comes out.

When I first switched to the One, it didn't seem that much bigger than the iPhone, but now the iPhone does seem tiny.

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