I lost my iOS virginity today! My first impressions!

[Geodude074]

Hello all. I've been an avid Android and Windows users for many years, and I've never had an iOS device. I couldn't really justify the price for one, when there were much cheaper alternatives out there. But I've always wanted to try out an iPad. Well just recently Best Buy was offering the iPad Mini 2 for $250, so I finally got my chance, and I picked up TWO of them (one for me, another for a 7 year old). Here are my thoughts on iOS, both the good and the bad. I'm not going to reiterate the most common pros and cons since those have been beaten to death - rather, I'm going to give you all the tiny details that only a real user (not a reviewer) would experience.

Good:

- Smooth, stable OS. Definitely the biggest pro of iOS. In comparison to Android and Windows, it crashes less often and is more fluid.

- Beautiful hardware. 'Nuff said.

- Fast processor and good graphics. In Geekbench, my iPad scored a 1377/2488, which was way higher than I anticipated! It's even faster than my old Asus X202E laptop with a Sandy i3, which scores 1118/2332. Single-core wise, it blows away my Dell Venue 8 Pro at 789/2527. And it's competitive with my Nexus 5 at 902/2848.

- Awesome stand-by battery life. My Dell Venue 8 Pro will go from 100% to 0% if left on stand-by for a couple days.

Bad:

- No back button. Every time you want to go back, in every application, the back button is in a different place. This is wildly inconsistent and sometimes unergonomic, especially in browsers where the back button is in the top left corner and out of reach of the thumb.

- Annoying keyboard. The keyboard is slightly off center. This may seem picky, but the Android keyboard is perfectly dead center and is a pure joy to text on. Also, you can't split and dock the keyboard at the same time. Very annoying to me, since I like the keyboard to be docked at the bottom at all times.

- iTunes password. Every time I want to download a new app, it asks me for my password. This is EXTREMELY ANNOYING. Remember Windows Vista's draconian User Access Controls that prompted the user before every single program install? People cried foul over it because it was so cumbersome. Well it seems iOS has the same draconian UAC, and yet nobody is crying foul about it. Why is this?

- Lack of gesture controls. With W8 in IE, if you wanted to go back, all you had to do was swipe to the right. With W8, to access your current programs, you could swipe from the left. To access your settings, you could swipe from the right. To close your app, you could swipe down from the top. In Android, to access your settings, you could swipe down from the top. iOS has none of these gesture controls.

- 1 GB of RAM. This isn't so bad when running small applications. But the single most important application for any OS, in my humble opinion, is the web browser. And with only 1 GB of RAM, I can't have more than 4 tabs open on my iPad without it refreshing every single time I switch to a different tab. A total deal breaker for me, since I primarily use my tablet to web browse, and having to wait for the page to refresh every time I tab over to it, is a huge slowdown.

- Slippery to hold. Yes the aluminum body is pretty, but it feels like holding onto a bar of wet soap. This is a case of form over function, where I had zero confidence in holding onto my iPad with just one hand. I'd much prefer an ugly, grippy plastic backside over a pretty, slippery aluminum backside.

- Unintuitive OS. The iOS App Store is a mess to navigate in comparison to the Google Play Store. I actually didn't know how to uninstall an app at first, and when I asked Siri, she was useless. When I downloaded DropBox, I couldn't figure out how to add files to it. I've heard many times that iOS is the most simple OS to use - that may be the case, but it's definitely not the most INTUITIVE OS to use.

- Unintelligent Siri. I asked Siri, How do I uninstall an app? She took me to the Apple website. I asked, What processor does the iPad Mini have? She took me to the Apple website. I asked, Hulu Plus download. She said, Sorry, I don't know what you're asking for. Very frustrating, and every time Siri didn't know, I ended up pulling out my Android phone and asking Hey Google! instead, which worked every time.

Overall:

I like the iPad Mini 2. But I don't love it. It's beautiful, smooth, fast, and stable. But it's also annoying, unergonomic, unintuitive, and stupid at times. I love the hardware that Apple makes, but the OS seems rather lacking to me. And I didn't even get into the total lack of customization, the bland, cluttered presentation, and iTunes. If I had to choose one tablet to live with, it would be an Android tablet, but one with beautiful and powerful hardware that equals Apple. Truly that would be the best of both worlds to me. As it stands, I do have 14 days to return my iPad Mini back to Best Buy, which I plan on doing so.

The 7 year old loves it though. Definitely the tablet to get for kids.

 

[EBUK]

Thank you for the information. I'm considering switching from Windows Phone to iPhone, and your comments on iOS are very helpful.

 

[qbnkelt]

Thank you for your input OP. Always good to hear different perspectives especially when as well presented as yours.

 

[Taroza]

I got an iPad Mini 2 from that same sale, and I had a similar experience as you did but I'll clear up one thing.

You can use gestures, for example you can go to the home screen by pinching the screen with four fingers, and you can go back in Safari by swiping to the right. You have to make sure that it's enabled though.

As for Siri, she suffers the same issue that MS's Cortana does. I keep them both off personally, since I don't need them. And I don't know much about Google Now, since I don't really care about Android anymore, but I prefer Siri and Cortana's more realistic voice if I do use them.

Ultimately I understand why Apple has such a following, so it's a good experience for me. I would be very unlikely to get an Android tablet and I might get a Windows tablet instead later if MS improves the tablet experience with W10. Otherwise, I'll stick to the iPad, since I feel it's the best for most uses.

 

[anon(6038817)]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, OP.

I disagree some of the items on your bad list, several of which really come down to personal preference more than anything else. There are some workarounds, too. For example, did you know you can download keyboard apps? Just slap SwiftKey on there and customize the keyboard to your heart's content.

I always try to use a device for 2 weeks minimum before making my final judgements, but it's always good to note your initial impressions and observations when you're first getting familiar with it.

Android definitely has its strengths as a platform. I used a Moto X 2nd Gen for 3 weeks at the beginning of this year, but in the end I decided it wasn't for me. Since then, I've decided I personally want as little to do with Google and its products/services as possible. So Android is just not an option for me right now.

Good luck in your future tech endeavors!

 

[Ledsteplin]

We get used to a particular OS and find a new one strange. I used my Wife's Android and the back button drove me nuts. Hang in there. You'll get used to it and will feel better about it.


Sent from my ancient but trustworthy iPhone 5. ☮