It Was Short, But It Was Great! My Journey From A Note 5 To An iPhone 6S...

JakePleasants

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I seriously LOVE your hand-on impressions with both phones.

More people need to have an open-mind and embrace these devices for what they do best and their strengths instead of bashing each other based on their weaknesses.

Thank you! And I agree wholeheartedly.

You may be confusing "data" with "voice". 4G refers to data - not voice. The network extender provides "voice" capability - not data. If you're home where your network extender is, then I assume you have WiFi - that replaces the 4G or 3G data signal.

I have a very marginal voice and 4G signal in my home, but I don't even use the landline anymore. I use my Note 5 for all my calls because the network extender provides a VERY strong "voice" signal. My WiFi provides the "data" signal.

Turning off Advanced Calling allows you to use the Network Extender for "voice" - not data.

No, I'm quite clear on the fact is 4G is for data. That's why you can use LTE while you're on the phone. I do use WiFi at home for data and it works fine, but the only way to force a phone on to the extender, in my personal experience, is to turn off 4G. It may not sound completely logical, but that's the only thing that has worked for me. Sometimes the phones will connect themselves, but they won't stay connected if 4G isn't turned off.
 

bertsirkin

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...but the only way to force a phone on to the extender, in my personal experience, is to turn off 4G

That's not the case. Advanced Calling uses 4G for voice - by turning advanced calling off, if uses the voice radio instead (and the network extender) - see Enable/Disable Advanced Calling for Network Extender - Smartphone | Verizon Wireless

Here is the network extender connected along with a 4G signal and a weak radio signal (on the lock screen):
NetworkExtender-4G.jpg


edit...
Interestingly, before I dial a call, I have minimal 4G signal - when I dial a call, it goes to 1x.
 
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Almeuit

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So... My experience has been totally different and has shown me that a different carrier can result in this.

Carrier & Location. Two MAJOR factors that will differ greatly per person. So while you may get great signal -- he didn't :).
 

Tadrift

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Seems to me that in your story the one thing that kept coming up as a problem was Verizon. Yet, the story was about the phones. Weak signals, no rooting, network settings, Poor Note battery life (poor signals cause battery drain), etc. I did read it, but perhaps I missed it, but the most obvious solution is to change carriers. A GSM network solves a lot of problems in general and it also opens you up to a HUGE selection of unlocked devices. I am not sure if that is even an option for you.

Ultimately, you got to go with what works. Multiple drop calls is just not acceptable, especially if your health or income depends on it. No matter how much you like the phone. It is very possible there is a technical reason for it as others have pointed out, but my guess is that you will eventually tire of trying to figure it out and just switch networks.
 

dpham00

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I'm not sure I totally trust the bars my phone says I have. If you want to compare signal strength you need to go into the "settings > about phone > status > SIM Card status" to see what the actual signal is in dBm. My note 5 is showing me 4/5 bars and signal strength is "-104 dBm 37 asu" which is supposed to be utter crap (higher number is better. dBm is displayed as a negative number so a 'high' good signal is -60 dBm) yet it still displayes 4 out of 5 bars of signal.
-104dbm for lte isn't necessarily bad, especially if it is xlte. Even at - 118dbm,I can get good speeds

uploadfromtaptalk1444761126814.jpg

Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 5
 

JakePleasants

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That's not the case. Advanced Calling uses 4G for voice - by turning advanced calling off, if uses the voice radio instead (and the network extender) - see Enable/Disable Advanced Calling for Network Extender - Smartphone | Verizon Wireless

Here is the network extender connected along with a 4G signal and a weak radio signal (on the lock screen):
View attachment 201257


edit...
Interestingly, before I dial a call, I have minimal 4G signal - when I dial a call, it goes to 1x.

I don't know what to say other than it simply doesn't work for me. I follow the steps and it never says, "Network Extender." In fact, it's never said that, even when I know it's connected (because it reverts to a strong 1X signal and beeps at the beginning of the call, indicating that it is indeed connected). I wish it would work, but it doesn't.

Seems to me that in your story the one thing that kept coming up as a problem was Verizon. Yet, the story was about the phones. Weak signals, no rooting, network settings, Poor Note battery life (poor signals cause battery drain), etc. I did read it, but perhaps I missed it, but the most obvious solution is to change carriers. A GSM network solves a lot of problems in general and it also opens you up to a HUGE selection of unlocked devices. I am not sure if that is even an option for you.

Ultimately, you got to go with what works. Multiple drop calls is just not acceptable, especially if your health or income depends on it. No matter how much you like the phone. It is very possible there is a technical reason for it as others have pointed out, but my guess is that you will eventually tire of trying to figure it out and just switch networks.

There are a few network issues in my post, but I didn't knock either phone for network issues. That wouldn't be fair. The only part that affected either phone was battery life on the Note because it had a weaker signal most of the time, but I don't think I was unfairly harsh. As far as rooting and Verizon prohibiting it, that's kind of a non-factor to me because I don't think you should have to root to switch 4G on and off.

Now, as far as switching carriers, I've certainly thought about it, but the cons outweigh the pros. AT&T has about the same signal strength as Verizon, T-Mobile is worse, and Sprint is nonexistent. The only carrier with better service at my house is US Cellular but they're much slower to roll out new technology and I'd also have to give up my unlimited data with Verizon to switch to another carrier with limited data, and I'm not willing to make that sacrifice. If the iPhone also didn't have a way to force it on to the network extender then I wouldn't really have much of a choice, but since it does, I'm fine with just keeping the iPhone and my unlimited data.
 

MDMcAtee

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Carrier & Location. Two MAJOR factors that will differ greatly per person. So while you may get great signal -- he didn't :).

I understand this fully which is why I said... I... Not all... And why his was a wrong answer given.

Posted from my AT&T 64 gig Black Sapphire leather wrapped Note 5
 

syspry

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I'll preface the below by saying I don't find your post unfair, but but like iMore's reviews I do find fault in that it completely omits the numerous issues that have surfaced on this year's models both on fan sites and Apple support. Perversely, you're likely to get more honest admissions in the replies here because many of us do own both, whereas the other forum you posted this same post on tends to have issues with open-mindedness (tried to phrase that as mildly as I could ;) )

As a Android/iPhone dual-wielder, I'm actually less impressed by the 6S Plus than any previous iteration. On top of dpham00's list of reasons why he prefers his Android, I've run into numerous issues despite following all of the suggestions people have posted on iPhone forums.

Slowness, freezing and lag.
Email sucks on iOS, I often don't get real-time replies like I do on Android.
iPhone keyboards continue to be inferior, both stock and 3rd party
Data reception is hit or miss compared to my Android phones
Bluetooth connectivity issues
Multitasking continues to be a bugbear despite the additional RAM and new A9 claims of greatness
App quality isn't is great as what I keep hearing others claim

Those are my additions to his list (although I've repeated a few because they really annoy me). I also keep hearing that iOS 9.1 will resolve them if I'm patient... well I've heard that story before with iOS and ended up with new problems after the old were fixed so =/=
IMHO Apple's efforts to make new additions to the iPhone in order to compete with the numerous capabilities available on Android has in turn introduced that company to a world of added complexity they aren't as accustomed to as Google's Android engineers. Apple's long held hegemony as the king of fast, stable smartphones is a thing of the past now in my books, and their last and final line of defense with carrier free updates packaged in high quality hardware is coming a lot closer to its end as well via the Nexus 6p. To be fair to Note 5, it's certainly an amazing device and a better buy than the 6S Plus in its current state right now, I just made a personal decision to only buy Nexus or iPhone devices from this year forward because I'm permanently done with carrier updates.
 
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Snappy Phoenix

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I'll preface the below by saying I don't find your post unfair, but but like iMore's reviews I do find fault in that it completely omits the numerous issues that have surfaced on this year's models both on fan sites and Apple support. Perversely, you're likely to get more honest admissions in the replies here because many of us do own both, whereas the other forum you posted this same post on tends to have issues with open-mindedness (tried to phrase that as mildly as I could ;) )

As a Android/iPhone dual-wielder, I'm actually less impressed by the 6S Plus than any previous iteration. On top of dpham00's list of reasons why he prefers his Android, I've run into numerous issues despite following all of the suggestions people have posted on iPhone forums.

Slowness, freezing and lag.
Email sucks on iOS, I often don't get real-time replies like I do on Android.
iPhone keyboards continue to be inferior, both stock and 3rd party
Data reception is hit or miss compared to my Android phones
Bluetooth connectivity issues
Multitasking continues to be a bugbear despite the additional RAM and new A9 claims of greatness
App quality isn't is great as what I keep hearing others claim

Those are my additions to his list (although I've repeated a few because they really annoy me). I also keep hearing that iOS 9.1 will resolve them if I'm patient... well I've heard that story before with iOS and ended up with new problems after the old were fixed so =/=
IMHO Apple's efforts to make new additions to the iPhone in order to compete with the numerous capabilities available on Android has in turn introduced that company to a world of added complexity they aren't as accustomed to as Google's Android engineers. Apple's long held hegemony as the king of fast, stable smartphones is a thing of the past now in my books, and their last and final line of defense with carrier free updates packaged in high quality hardware is coming a lot closer to its end as well via the Nexus 6p. To be fair to Note 5, it's certainly an amazing device and a better buy than the 6S Plus in its current state right now, I just made a personal decision to only buy Nexus or iPhone devices from this year forward because I'm permanently done with carrier updates.

Thank you for this great and honest review! I was gonna buy an iToy 6+ but now I won't after reading this. I am very sensitive to lag.
 

dpham00

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I'll preface the below by saying I don't find your post unfair, but but like iMore's reviews I do find fault in that it completely omits the numerous issues that have surfaced on this year's models both on fan sites and Apple support. Perversely, you're likely to get more honest admissions in the replies here because many of us do own both, whereas the other forum you posted this same post on tends to have issues with open-mindedness (tried to phrase that as mildly as I could ;) )

As a Android/iPhone dual-wielder, I'm actually less impressed by the 6S Plus than any previous iteration. On top of dpham00's list of reasons why he prefers his Android, I've run into numerous issues despite following all of the suggestions people have posted on iPhone forums.

Slowness, freezing and lag.
Email sucks on iOS, I often don't get real-time replies like I do on Android.
iPhone keyboards continue to be inferior, both stock and 3rd party
Data reception is hit or miss compared to my Android phones
Bluetooth connectivity issues
Multitasking continues to be a bugbear despite the additional RAM and new A9 claims of greatness
App quality isn't is great as what I keep hearing others claim

Those are my additions to his list (although I've repeated a few because they really annoy me). I also keep hearing that iOS 9.1 will resolve them if I'm patient... well I've heard that story before with iOS and ended up with new problems after the old were fixed so =/=
IMHO Apple's efforts to make new additions to the iPhone in order to compete with the numerous capabilities available on Android has in turn introduced that company to a world of added complexity they aren't as accustomed to as Google's Android engineers. Apple's long held hegemony as the king of fast, stable smartphones is a thing of the past now in my books, and their last and final line of defense with carrier free updates packaged in high quality hardware is coming a lot closer to its end as well via the Nexus 6p. To be fair to Note 5, it's certainly an amazing device and a better buy than the 6S Plus in its current state right now, I just made a personal decision to only buy Nexus or iPhone devices from this year forward because I'm permanently done with carrier updates.

With regards to the slowness and lag, restarting the iPhone and force closing all apps will get it peppy again... For a while. Then you will have to do it again. The annoying thing is there isn't a "close all option" nor is there a restart option (you have to turn it off, then turn it on again)

For email, the stock email only does fetch every 15 minutes max, but the Gmail app will push emails immediately.

Google Apps are limited on ios. But some apps are better. Either way, not miles better... One thing that really bothered me was there was no option in Google photos or amazon photos to automatically backup ONLY when charging. Which is problematic when you take hundreds of pictures and are on a weak cell signal (l have it backup over 4GLTE, which works better than wifi for me)

Data reception I would agree,it is a hit or miss

Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 5
 

syspry

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Thank you for this great and honest review! I was gonna buy an iToy 6+ but now I won't after reading this. I am very sensitive to lag.

To be fair, I will say that the lag/freezing reports will most likely get patched, which is why I added the caveat that while I believe that will happen, it's been my past experience that new issues also tend to arise as well. This is not to say that doesn't happen on Android as well, because it certainly does. The difference is that I prefer Android to iOS so if I'm going to deal with it no matter what, I'd rather deal with it on my OS of preference.
iOS has a lot more code to it than ever before and those extra lines have also brought extra issues, and Android has also become more refined and responsive (ironic isn't it?). Neither are perfect, both have issues, but the gap is a lot narrower now to the point where we finally have a choice based almost purely on preference rather than software quality assurance. "It just works" isn't a banner the iPhone can honestly hold up anymore.
 

dpham00

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It should just work out of the box. Perhaps not perfectly,but major performance issues is unacceptable, imo . All of my high end Androids in the last few years worked right out of the box,performance wise. Sure there were minor things, but nothing as bad as my 6sp.

Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 5
 

sqa4life

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All our Sammy phones got 5 bars all day. Love AT&T :)

fc44a40df9c4e14017d895310176d54c.jpg


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk
 

Wildo6882

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It should just work out of the box. Perhaps not perfectly,but major performance issues is unacceptable, imo . All of my high end Androids in the last few years worked right out of the box,performance wise. Sure there were minor things, but nothing as bad as my 6sp.

Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 5
That's how I was, too. My 6s Plus was loaded with issues, much more so than any of my recent Android phones. Lag and mail issues were just two of the more major problems. My Note 5 and my Nexus 6 were problem free in comparison.
 

Tadrift

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I don't know what to say other than it simply doesn't work for me. I follow the steps and it never says, "Network Extender." In fact, it's never said that, even when I know it's connected (because it reverts to a strong 1X signal and beeps at the beginning of the call, indicating that it is indeed connected). I wish it would work, but it doesn't.



There are a few network issues in my post, but I didn't knock either phone for network issues. That wouldn't be fair. The only part that affected either phone was battery life on the Note because it had a weaker signal most of the time, but I don't think I was unfairly harsh. As far as rooting and Verizon prohibiting it, that's kind of a non-factor to me because I don't think you should have to root to switch 4G on and off.

Now, as far as switching carriers, I've certainly thought about it, but the cons outweigh the pros. AT&T has about the same signal strength as Verizon, T-Mobile is worse, and Sprint is nonexistent. The only carrier with better service at my house is US Cellular but they're much slower to roll out new technology and I'd also have to give up my unlimited data with Verizon to switch to another carrier with limited data, and I'm not willing to make that sacrifice. If the iPhone also didn't have a way to force it on to the network extender then I wouldn't really have much of a choice, but since it does, I'm fine with just keeping the iPhone and my unlimited data.

Yep, something is fishy with this thread. I don't buy it. I think this is bait for all the Note users. There are some really good suggestions here, but yet you just keep trying to make it about the phones. You act like you are clueless, then when a good suggestion comes up you dismiss it as if you are an expert and you have done that, been there, then refocus it on the phones.

Truth is, the Note is well known for having a pretty strong signal. As does the iPhone, but you said one of your main concerns and what ultimately pushed you to the iPhone was all the dropped calls on the Note that you don't get with the iPhone. In short, you either have a network issue at your location or you just like all the attention of pitting the iPhone against the Note.
 

syspry

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Yep, something is fishy with this thread. I don't buy it. I think this is bait for all the Note users. There are some really good suggestions here, but yet you just keep trying to make it about the phones. You act like you are clueless, then when a good suggestion comes up you dismiss it as if you are an expert and you have done that, been there, then refocus it on the phones.

Truth is, the Note is well known for having a pretty strong signal. As does the iPhone, but you said one of your main concerns and what ultimately pushed you to the iPhone was all the dropped calls on the Note that you don't get with the iPhone. In short, you either have a network issue at your location or you just like all the attention of pitting the iPhone against the Note.

More likely answer is that his network is screwed up somehow, but I think it's a stretch to claim he's engaging in some kind of conspiracy.
 

Almeuit

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Yep, something is fishy with this thread. I don't buy it. I think this is bait for all the Note users. There are some really good suggestions here, but yet you just keep trying to make it about the phones. You act like you are clueless, then when a good suggestion comes up you dismiss it as if you are an expert and you have done that, been there, then refocus it on the phones.

Truth is, the Note is well known for having a pretty strong signal. As does the iPhone, but you said one of your main concerns and what ultimately pushed you to the iPhone was all the dropped calls on the Note that you don't get with the iPhone. In short, you either have a network issue at your location or you just like all the attention of pitting the iPhone against the Note.

Just because a Note is known to get good signal doesn't mean it did for him in this instance. Carrier and signal depend so so so much on location that every location isn't the same. I don't see why he'd make it up and write a big review just to say the iPhone got better than the note. Just because your belief or experience doesn't match his doesn't make yours instantly correct and his wrong...