Android/HTC One M8 to iPhone 6S Plus convert

[law2010]

I received my 64GB iPhone 6S Plus yesterday and retired my android HTC One M8 running Lollipop 5.01. I felt some others in the iMore forums could benefit from my experience, but if not, it's all good.

I was not always an android user. I was a Blackberry user until Verizon got the iPhone 4 and I tried an iPhone for the first time. I loved that iPhone 4-- it was beautiful, fast, and unmatched in overall craftsmanship.

However, I was curious about customizing my device, rooting it, trying out different ROMS, and also using a big screen phone. The 3.5" screen on the iPhone 4 was so tiny in comparison to the beautiful 5" inch screen on the HTC DNA that I decided to leave Apple and iOS in search of a better hardware and software experience.

I have owned the HTC Droid DNA and the HTC One M8 and several android tablets. Statistically speaking, they were always leaps and bounds ahead of iOS and iPhone hardware. Unfortunately, even with 2 more cores than the iPhone, my Droid DNA, HTC One M8, and Galaxy Tab 10.1 never seemed to be the pinnacle of good hardware and software.

Android updates were always 4-12 months behind and often were buggy updates that were never fixed. My HTC One M8 is running Lollipop 5.01, which has a large number of bugs and when I received that update, 5.1 had been released for several months already, which was designed to correct many of those bugs. However, 5 more months have gone by and I have not seen another update. It was as if someone intentionally wanted to leave a 80% functional android experience for users after an update to encourage them to get a new phone, but not make it so bad that they go to iOS. Well, I am done. I am tired of the slow updates and want a phone that has top notch hardware and software.

Further, I want a phone that has great battery life. I find it amusing that iPhone users complain about how bad the battery is on their phones. When I used to leave my iPhone 4 on my desk at the office and not touch it for hours, even with background syncing to Gmail and my Exchange email account, Facebook updating in the background, etc., I may lose 2-3% of battery life (I have a decent 3G and 4G signal at my office; iPhone 4 only supported 3G). If I leave my HTC One M8 sitting on my desk for hours and do not mess with it, the phone will lose 10-15% of its battery life. Despite having a large battery and various websites saying that the HTC One M8 had one of the longest battery lives when it came out, in real world usage, I had to be "gentle" when using the phone or I could go through the whole battery in three or four hours. Even my iPhone 4, which had a tiny battery and far lower standards back years ago would outlast my HTC One M8 with my standard activities (email, texting, Facebook, news apps, surfing web, etc. (no games)). iPhones are far more battery efficient and quite frankly, I have found they have better battery life than some of the longest lasting android phones when using them in the real world, I am not talking about BS video loop tests.

The apps on android are far less well developed versus their iOS counterparts as well-- just a casual observation.

So . . . based on the lack of timely software updates, poor battery life, lower quality apps, and general hardware compromises, I have switched back to Apple and bought an iPhone 6S Plus.

I have only been using the phone for 24 hours, so I can't say it is the greatest thing since sliced bread. I can tell you that the phone works great, the camera is absolutely amazing (4MP shooter on HTC One M8 that became unusable after the Lollipop update (yes, I factory reset) doesn't even compare, iMessage is awesome as usual, and battery life appears to be stellar.

I have had 4 hours and 48 minutes of screen on time, taken at least 50 pictures, 2 slow-mo videos, Facetimed for about 30 minutes, sent probably 100 or so iMessages, dorked around on Facebook, watched a bunch of YouTube videos, and used a bunch of apps (No games)-- I have 49% of my battery left. My HTC One M8 would have died at about 3 hours of screen on time, yet statistically speaking, it should run circles around the iPhone 6S Plus.

I am glad to be back to a nice piece of hardware that has well-integrated software that is updated in a timely fashion. I am glad to be back with Apple and iOS.

 

[Jde2466]

Thanks for this input. I have been Android for a very long time (since the original Droid days) and currently have a Note 4. I like the Note 4 a lot but wanted to try an iPhone. The 6S Plus seems to have some awesome features and I think it goes without saying that the software/hardware integration is very good on iOS. I have been out of town for a week but my iPhone 6S Plus is waiting on me when I get home tonight. Can't wait to try it out.

Posted via the iMore App for Android

 

[law2010]

Thanks for this input. I have been Android for a very long time (since the original Droid days) and currently have a Note 4. I like the Note 4 a lot but wanted to try an iPhone. The 6S Plus seems to have some awesome features and I think it goes without saying that the software/hardware integration is very good on iOS. I have been out of town for a week but my iPhone 6S Plus is waiting on me when I get home tonight. Can't wait to try it out.

Posted via the iMore App for Android

Please let me know what you think after using it for a bit. I am impressed. My phone has been off the charger since 7:00am this morning and I still have 91% of my battery left at 1:07pm. I haven't been hammering the phone with use today, but it is kicking the tar out of my HTC One M8's battery life.

The apps are so much more polished as well. Even basic apps like IMDB and Flixster are leaps and bounds ahead of the android versions.

 

[Peter Rokkos]

Really interesting post.

I am in a similar boat. Had a few iphones up until the 5 when I got tempted to switch to Android for a bigger screen. Been through a few devices and currently have an LG G3, but about to switch back to the 6s Plus. My family are all on iPhones so I'm in touch with the experience on both sides of ios and Android.

Bottom line on switching back for me:

I will miss most the customizable widgets and information that appears on an Android screen. I know I can do some interesting stuff on iOs and look forward to getting to know how to use notification widgets. But there is something materially better when on Android I can have news, weather, etc. convey real information right on the screen at a glance. You will always have to dig into ios to get anything.

BUT - as OP pointed out, you just can't beat battery life on an iPhone compared to Android. I have struggled through mutliple devices and at the end its always compromizing. I don't understand having a phone that can't make it through a fairly typical day without charging. I get having multiple charges available at work, commuting, etc. But there are some days when that is just not possible. What is the point of having a phone with features if you end up having to turn off GPS, screen brightness, syncing, etc. just to eak out the day. And then sweating at night hoping the 22% you have when you go to dinner will last to get you home.

I actually just picked up a Moto X pure in the hope that one last new Android will do the trick. Great phone. Great price. By mid day of normal usage, I'm at 44%.

I'm really hoping the 6S Plus will be able to simply make it through the day with something left. I always charge at night.

You can debate plenty of merits that both systems have but for me, biggest drawback is the quick view of the BBC news for example right on my front page that I'll lose on the 6S Plus. But it will be nice to not worry about the battery and I guess I'll have to press a button to get the info.

 

[law2010]

Really interesting post.

I am in a similar boat. Had a few iphones up until the 5 when I got tempted to switch to Android for a bigger screen. Been through a few devices and currently have an LG G3, but about to switch back to the 6s Plus. My family are all on iPhones so I'm in touch with the experience on both sides of ios and Android.

Bottom line on switching back for me:

I will miss most the customizable widgets and information that appears on an Android screen. I know I can do some interesting stuff on iOs and look forward to getting to know how to use notification widgets. But there is something materially better when on Android I can have news, weather, etc. convey real information right on the screen at a glance. You will always have to dig into ios to get anything.

BUT - as OP pointed out, you just can't beat battery life on an iPhone compared to Android. I have struggled through mutliple devices and at the end its always compromizing. I don't understand having a phone that can't make it through a fairly typical day without charging. I get having multiple charges available at work, commuting, etc. But there are some days when that is just not possible. What is the point of having a phone with features if you end up having to turn off GPS, screen brightness, syncing, etc. just to eak out the day. And then sweating at night hoping the 22% you have when you go to dinner will last to get you home.

I actually just picked up a Moto X pure in the hope that one last new Android will do the trick. Great phone. Great price. By mid day of normal usage, I'm at 44%.

I'm really hoping the 6S Plus will be able to simply make it through the day with something left. I always charge at night.

You can debate plenty of merits that both systems have but for me, biggest drawback is the quick view of the BBC news for example right on my front page that I'll lose on the 6S Plus. But it will be nice to not worry about the battery and I guess I'll have to press a button to get the info.

I hear you and I do miss Google Now. It was wonderful-- and keeping up with college football scores was way easier because all I had to do was swipe to the left and there was a plethora of information.

However, you used the word "compromise." I can't think of a better term than that. No perfect smartphone exists, but when it comes to compromises now that Apple produced a large screen iPhone, I feel there are fewer compromises at the moment with the iPhone 6S Plus.

Today has been a normal workday for me. My 6S Plus has been off the charger since 6:45am and I have taken a few photos, done Facebook, wrote several emails, and sent 100 or so texts and I still have 90% of my battery life left. My HTC One M8 on Lollipop would be at about 65-70% at this juncture and when the M8 was on KitKat, it would have been at 75-80%.

My 6S Plus appears to be holding up extremely well in the battery department.

I am very pleased thus far with my overall experience.

 

[pantlesspenguin]

I hear you and I do miss Google Now. It was wonderful-- and keeping up with college football scores was way easier because all I had to do was swipe to the left and there was a plethora of information.

However, you used the word "compromise." I can't think of a better term than that. No perfect smartphone exists, but when it comes to compromises now that Apple produced a large screen iPhone, I feel there are fewer compromises at the moment with the iPhone 6S Plus.

Today has been a normal workday for me. My 6S Plus has been off the charger since 6:45am and I have taken a few photos, done Facebook, wrote several emails, and sent 100 or so texts and I still have 90% of my battery life left. My HTC One M8 on Lollipop would be at about 65-70% at this juncture and when the M8 was on KitKat, it would have been at 75-80%.

My 6S Plus appears to be holding up extremely well in the battery department.

I am very pleased thus far with my overall experience.

You can download an app for Google Now . It's just the Google app.

 

[law2010]

You can download an app for Google Now . It's just the Google app.

Thanks for letting me know. I am still learning. I haven't had an iPhone since the iPhone 4 and my iPad is an iPad 2, so it rarely gets used due to not being able to handle the modern day internet cache loads.

I have noticed that the Google Calendar is nicer on the iPhone than it is on android; even though they look superficially similar, there are nuanced differences. Even Google Docs looks better on the iPhone.

iMessage has been awesome. I like being able to send friends full quality videos without them needing to fit into the 1200k/b MMS messages like I would with my HTC One M8. Because most people I know use iPhones, I was never able to convince anyone to use Google Hangouts. That would be like asking 100 people to change their main messaging app to appease the one Hangouts user.