Long-time iOS users...what is your real opinion of the Note 7 having made the switch?

[msm0511]

I've been an iPhone user off and on for years but have been using a 6s Plus solely since December. I love the fluidity and stability. But...... I'm so very incredibly bored with it. And I'm on the iOS 10 beta. It really gives me nothing new compared to iOS 9. It feels like the same thing with raise to wake and bigger notifications. Oh, and Snapchat iMessage. I'm about 99% sure I'm jumping back to Android, but I just don't know if I want a Note, wait for the new Nexus devices, or get an HTC 10. I feel like I was more productive with Android. I could write myself little notes and plaster them all over my home screens. Little reminders that I didn't have to hunt for. On iOS I have to use a task app or Reminders that I have to open up or set a specific time to remind me. There are other examples, but I just feel like the overall customization that I can make my phone work for me is really enticing. And is worth a fraction of a second's worth of lag.

Hahaha! We're always interested in the same phones. The HTC M9 threads, iPhone 6s Plus threads, and now the Note 7 threads.

 

[SteveISU]

I've been an iPhone user off and on for years but have been using a 6s Plus solely since December. I love the fluidity and stability. But...... I'm so very incredibly bored with it. And I'm on the iOS 10 beta. It really gives me nothing new compared to iOS 9. It feels like the same thing with raise to wake and bigger notifications. Oh, and Snapchat iMessage. I'm about 99% sure I'm jumping back to Android, but I just don't know if I want a Note, wait for the new Nexus devices, or get an HTC 10. I feel like I was more productive with Android. I could write myself little notes and plaster them all over my home screens. Little reminders that I didn't have to hunt for. On iOS I have to use a task app or Reminders that I have to open up or set a specific time to remind me. There are other examples, but I just feel like the overall customization that I can make my phone work for me is really enticing. And is worth a fraction of a second's worth of lag.

You're like me, I feel the same way until the FDR up the ying yang and the constant search for what is causing battery drain gets old. Then it's back to iPhone. lol

 

[Wildo6882]

Hahaha! We're always interested in the same phones. The HTC M9 threads, iPhone 6s Plus threads, and now the Note 7 threads.

No kidding. What does that say about us? I definitely have a problem...

You're like me, I feel the same way until the FDR up the ying yang and the constant search for what is causing battery drain gets old. Then it's back to iPhone. lol

My last couple of Android phones I haven't had that issue. And my wife has gone from an S6 edge Plus to an S7 edge and she hasn't had any issues (well, none more than me on my iPhone). So I'm actually pretty trusting of Android right now. And it isn't like I don't know how to fix stuff with Android if need be. I definitely hear ya though. I'm just starting to think the good outweighs the bad.

 

[msm0511]

No kidding. What does that say about us? I definitely have a problem...



My last couple of Android phones I haven't had that issue. And my wife has gone from an S6 edge Plus to an S7 edge and she hasn't had any issues (well, none more than me on my iPhone). So I'm actually pretty trusting of Android right now. And it isn't like I don't know how to fix stuff with Android if need be. I definitely hear ya though. I'm just starting to think the good outweighs the bad.

I just like to think we have good taste!

It is weird not having an iPhone though. Traded my 6s Plus for my Note 7. In the past with buying Android phones I've bought them outright and kept my iPhone. This is my first time since 2008 I haven't had one.

 

[Torm558]

iPhone user for 6 years. 6s plus was my last phone. Don't miss it at all after having this for over a week now. Awesome phone, very fast and smooth,dont notice any lag issues on day to day usage. Already taken hundreds on pictures on this awesome camera

Bye iPhone

 

[erasat]

3. I miss easily accessing universal search. I don't want to have the search bar in the middle of my home screen. When using the ios I pull down the search and just launch the app from typing a few letters into the search bar. The closest stock thing that can do that is two finger drop for search on Android. It will then open up another window for the search results.

I don't have the Note 7 but I doubt Samsung removed the S Finder, look for it if it's not on by default, but it will do just what you want and it's really useful.

 

[D13H4RD2L1V3]

I will say the best of both worlds for me is to have an Android phone and an iPad Pro. You get all the benefits of both OS's that way. It's not the most cost effective way, but it works for me. If you already have an iPad then you'd be set.

Yep, that's my setup. An iPad Pro 12.9 and a Galaxy Note7.

Experiencing the best that both have to offer.

 

[Havikc]

I don't have the Note 7 but I doubt Samsung removed the S Finder, look for it if it's not on by default, but it will do just what you want and it's really useful.

I just found a work around solution in putting the finder in my app edge screen. Thanks though!

 

[erasat]

I just found a work around solution in putting the finder in my app edge screen. Thanks though!

Glad you found a work around.

About your #1 Cons, the Lag that comes and go after a restart, have you clear Apps cache in Settings-Storage? Have you done a Wipe cache partition in Recovery Mode? Those are the first 2 things I do whenever I find something not working as it should.

If you want to try the Wipe Cache Partition, turn off your phone, Press and hold, Home, Volume Up and Power button until you see a message on screen, then browse the recovery options using your Volume buttons and press power to enter. Do a reboot after that and see if it gets better.

 

[TLD1]

Glad you found a work around.

About your #1 Cons, the Lag that comes and go after a restart, have you clear Apps cache in Settings-Storage? Have you done a Wipe cache partition in Recovery Mode? Those are the first 2 things I do whenever I find something not working as it should.

If you want to try the Wipe Cache Partition, turn off your phone, Press and hold, Home, Volume Up and Power button until you see a message on screen, then browse the recovery options using your Volume buttons and press power to enter. Do a reboot after that and see if it gets better.

Thanks for all the replies. Good, openminded, non-biased thread...which frankly I didn't expect on an Android-specific website.

The above though...and the "Samsungy - Androidish" tendency to lag (come on...everybody knows it lags) and to require cache wipes and reboots to make everything work smoother and do what it's supposed to do is a turn-off to me as the user of an OS that doesn't call for that, at least not on anything like a common basis. I'm not slamming Android at all, but it requires the user to "tinker" with it to keep the ship sailing straight moreso than what I'm used to. When I was younger and had a less-busy lifestyle, I didn't mind having to jack with my Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and BlackBerry devices...because it was pretty much expected. Now that I'm older and less patient with my electronics (ha!) I expect them to work smoothly without my input. Fantasy stuff, I know! But, I know that Android devices take more "user maintenance" than iOS ones do...normally.

I will say that I took the time to visit my local VZW emporium yesterday and handle a genuine Note 7 for myself...and I was pretty impressed with the design and build quality. It felt really "sexy" and smooth in my hand, even moreso than the iPhone 6s that's my daily driver. I wish I could have waited for a sales rep (it was super crowded) to let me test drive a phone, but for now...it still has my interest.

 

[bkrell]

I've had 4 iPhones and am on my second Samsung at the moment. I went with the S7 Active instead of the Note simply because it was a tad more rugged and because after using an iPhone 6 Plus for two years, I was ready for something smaller. There are still pluses and minuses but I am really enjoying my phone.

-What I like about my Samsung

• Android's become more polished since my last Samsung. Really can't make an argument iOS is "better" anymore.
• 99.9% of my apps had Android versions
• IP68 water resistance. Even if there are sometimes issues with the Samsungs, I've lost two iPhones to unintentional water damage (both in LifeProof cases)
• Better camera with many more "modes" than the iPhone's
• Google integration. I didn't like this in the past but now it does seem to have more benefits. I almost worry Google's spying on me too much as it seems to know what I'm going to ask or search for before I can even input it.
• Apple Music now has an Android app so I can keep using it for my music app
• Widgets. They seemed really gimmicky before but now I've found some useful ones I like.
• Samsung's Gear S2 watch. 3G/4G versions available that can be used as a standalone phone without having your phone with you.

-What I still have issues with

• Battery life. Samsung packs better, bigger batteries in most of their phones but I seem to have the worst time with battery life. If I'm on Facebook a lot, I can run my phone dry by the afternoon. With my iPhone, plugging in my phone for my car ride home at the end of the workday was sufficient to make sure I had enough charge to last till bedtime.
• Rest of my family still has iPhones so I had to download a third party app to replace "Find My iPhone" Good news is, the app I am using (Life360) is much more robust and worth paying a subscription. I have two kids with iPhones so I like to keep tabs, lol.
• iMessage-I had to get all my friends to delete their previous group text conversations with me to be able to resume group texting. Also, I still occasionally get harassed about "green texts." And, the default message app doesn't allow you to seamlessly send bitmojis or GIFs. My solution has just been to use Facebook Messenger more for those situations.
• Although the Samsung Gear S2 watch does a LOT more than my Apple watch, the app base is pretty small. At the moment, only the Samsung S Health app can be used to log a run from the watch. It did have Nike+ but Nike just completely revamped that app and renamed it Nike Running Club. When I open the app on my watch, it asks me to install the no longer existing Nike+ app on my phone.

 

[erasat]

Thanks for all the replies. Good, openminded, non-biased thread...which frankly I didn't expect on an Android-specific website.

The above though...and the "Samsungy - Androidish" tendency to lag (come on...everybody knows it lags) and to require cache wipes and reboots to make everything work smoother and do what it's supposed to do is a turn-off to me as the user of an OS that doesn't call for that, at least not on anything like a common basis. I'm not slamming Android at all, but it requires the user to "tinker" with it to keep the ship sailing straight moreso than what I'm used to. When I was younger and had a less-busy lifestyle, I didn't mind having to jack with my Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and BlackBerry devices...because it was pretty much expected. Now that I'm older and less patient with my electronics (ha!) I expect them to work smoothly without my input. Fantasy stuff, I know! But, I know that Android devices take more "user maintenance" than iOS ones do...normally.

I will say that I took the time to visit my local VZW emporium yesterday and handle a genuine Note 7 for myself...and I was pretty impressed with the design and build quality. It felt really "sexy" and smooth in my hand, even moreso than the iPhone 6s that's my daily driver. I wish I could have waited for a sales rep (it was super crowded) to let me test drive a phone, but for now...it still has my interest.

Nobody said is common or needed to do that, and really is not even recommended to that in a common basis, BUT, it's there for whenever is needed and it really works.

Common causes are Rogue apps causing havoc through out the file systems, once you see the symptom then regularly it doesn't fix by itself, most of the time it gets worst so best thing to do is what I described before.

Restart, well, yes, you are right, maybe is not needed, but for an old school techie who grew up having to reboot everything, it's a hard habit to break, and it's proven that it helps everything run smoother, even your iPhone will run better after a reboot. BUT to make things easier, Samsung has incorporated an Auto restart option that will run once a week, while the phone is at rest, charging and you are most likely sleeping so you will never know or notice that it did it. Great way to keep everything running smooth.

 

[bigoldthor]

The biggest reason I switched is that I was just bored with the iPhone. Nothing in the upcoming 7 really excited me but the Note 7 did. I've run both Android and iOS but have been primarily on iOS since I have a Mac at home. Both have their plus and minuses and I enjoy both systems. For the simplicity and fluidity of iOS you get a boring (imo) experience that works. With Android, you get a ton of customization but it may take a while to figure out the best set up for you. Apps in general are better on iOS and on some of the apps I use I miss being able to use my fingerprint to login. But the edge panel helps me out on that issue for quick access to 1password when needed.

For me, it's been a lot of fun trying to get the Note 7 to my liking and I've spent a lot of time this last week on it. While some may not like the amount of time it can take with Android to get the phone how you want, the beauty is you have the option to change it if it doesn't work or you get bored with it. I've downloaded and uninstalled several email and text apps and launchers to figure out which ones I like. So far I've settled on Gmail to run all my emails, Verizon's Messages+ for texting and Nova Prime for my launcher.

After a week with the Note 7, I love the phone, it blows my 6 plus out of the water. I'm getting better battery life out the Note 7. The screen is on a different level, it feels better in the hand, it looks better and I love the wireless/wired fast charging, the water resistance, the S Pen and the Iris Scanner. For me, it feels faster than the 6 plus and I feel like I can be more productive with it than the 6 plus.

This is exactly my take

 

[msm0511]

[*]Apple Music now has an Android app so I can keep using it for my music app
[/LIST]

What do you think about the Android version of Apple Music? I haven't tried it yet because I signed up for the 4 month free trial of Play All Access when they offered it last month. All I really like about it is ad free YouTube though.

 

[Inevitable Flux]

I will say the best of both worlds for me is to have an Android phone and an iPad Pro. You get all the benefits of both OS's that way. It's not the most cost effective way, but it works for me. If you already have an iPad then you'd be set.

Yep, that's my setup. An iPad Pro 12.9 and a Galaxy Note7.

Experiencing the best that both have to offer.

Fully agree with you both!
Note 7 for mobile productivity, iPad Pro 9.7 for mobile "fun", Surface Pro 4 for full OS mobile, and iMac (with windows bootcamp) for gaming/everything else. I find a use for them all. I've found ways to make synching across all of them work for me, and I'm reaping the benefits by not limiting myself to any one eco system.

 

[msm0511]

Fully agree with you both!
Note 7 for mobile productivity, iPad Pro 9.7 for mobile "fun", Surface Pro 4 for full OS mobile, and iMac (with windows bootcamp) for gaming/everything else. I find a use for them all. I've found ways to make synching across all of them work for me, and I'm reaping the benefits by not limiting myself to any one eco system.

I haven't been able to bring myself to try Windows yet. I've only had one Windows computer for personal use (been a Mac user since the late 90's). The Surface Pros look nice, but for the price of those I could also just get a MBP when they're updated.

 

[Joshua Luther2]

What do you think about the Android version of Apple Music? I haven't tried it yet because I signed up for the 4 month free trial of Play All Access when they offered it last month. All I really like about it is ad free YouTube though.

I,too signed up for the 4 free months of YT red and Play Music. I really tried to love GP music over Spotify, but I couldn't. The interface and ease of use just isn't there. It's so hard to distinguish my downloaded music from my music that isn't saved to my phone. With Spotify, it is clear and easy to distinguish. I do love ad free videos on YouTube. It's gonna be tough to let that go in November.

 

[MikezDroid]

iOS is boring now however the Os is the most solid out there and the most stable with timely updates.

The note 7 is shiney and new and curvatios.. it's pretty. The one thing that is worth it is the display. It's awesome! Galaxy Battery life is less, Performance is less with out work tweeking it.

 

[msm0511]

I,too signed up for the 4 free months of YT red and Play Music. I really tried to love GP music over Spotify, but I couldn't. The interface and ease of use just isn't there. It's so hard to distinguish my downloaded music from my music that isn't saved to my phone. With Spotify, it is clear and easy to distinguish. I do love ad free videos on YouTube. It's gonna be tough to let that go in November.

I haven't tried Spotify since it was first released in the U.S. Everybody sends to love it, but there's just something about it I didn't like. I should prolly give it another shot since it's been updated a lot over the years.

I downloaded the Samsung music app so all my local music resides there. I may keep Play Music, but I also may try Apple Music as well.

 

[Jesse Isaacson]

Re: Curiosity: iPhone transplants a week later

My only problem now is that I forgot I have an Apple Watch. My 6S Plus is long gone. Maybe I'll sell it for a Gear or something. ??????

I tell ya, the Gear Fit 2 is pretty darn nice, especially considering it's price. I only charge it while I'm in the shower, and leave it on all the time otherwise. Great screen, and a decent (as in not cheap feeling like some android wear devices) vibration motor. If you can live without audible commands and replying to texts, it's better than the Apple Watch in many ways (as in has GPS and sleep tracking, better battery life). I also prefer S Health to Apple's health apps.

I'm sure the Apple Watch 2 will have major improvements, but for now the Fit 2 has been a great replacement for my first gen Apple Watch.