Have you switched from a Note 5? Hindsight Appreciated!

[WeAreAllUnique]

That specific limitation. I'd say, no. I think there are strong arguments that can be made for both platforms when deciding which to go with.

I'd like to think Individual needs and taste would be the determining factor but I know that's not always the case either.

And that's my issue. My personal preferences lie somewhere in between the two.

 

[SquireSCA]

Again, it is hard to explain...

on Android, you can really organize things to how you work, and widgets are not limited to a notification screen. The home screens can use them.

So, I can have a home page for work, with my work email widget, other work apps and at the top of the screen is an email widget showing and accessing my email in real-time. All my work stuff on one screen, new emails streaming by as they come in...

Another screen is my clock, live weather report and my most used icons...

Another screen might be my multimedia. One for social media... The live widgets presenting me with real time information and updates right on the home page, with any relevant icons above, below or next to it, depending on how far my thumb can reach when using the phone one handed. I can place the icons in such a way that they are ergonomically easily accessible the way I hold my phone.

I can organize and arrange things to conform to how I like to work.

As with anything, Apple has workarounds and you can "sorta do that", but it isn't the same.

Coming from Apple to Android, is a bit of an eye opener. There are still plenty of things that Android does that Apple can't, and things that Apple fans just got that they think are "new features", they learn that Android had that 2+ years ago. They also find that there are often better, faster ways to do things... Not just the UI, but easy transfer of files without iTunes. Being able to use whatever default apps they want, rather than forced to use Apple apps in order to increase Apple's stock price.

Apple likes to pretend that their users are more educated and sophisticated. If that's true, they shouldn't they be smart enough to decide for themselves what browser or GPS app to use?

If I have 30GB free on my phone and want to use it as a USB thumb drive with any Windows/Mac/Linux box in the world for simple drag and drop functionality, why shouldn't I be?

Coming from Android to Apple, is a bit of a shock for most people. A lot of industry standard, simple and USEFUL features that you just take for granted, you give up. You have to do what took 1 step, now takes 3 steps and you have to buy an app to "sorta" do it, etc...

That turns a lot of people off. Apple wants to lock you into their ecosystem, so they spend a lot of effort forcing you into their usage model, to pull you in and keep you there, and if that's all you have ever known, it probably won't bother you. Lots of Apple fans that I know, don't even know that they are 2 years behind the curve. They only know what Apple allows them to have, spoon-fed one feature at a time...

 

[Adawg1203]

So the two systems work in reverse to each other. On Android, your homescreen has or could have widgets. And then to get into your apps you go into your app drawer which are static icons in a grid. On iOS your homescreen is an icon grid that you can manage in folders and when you want to see your widgets just pull down the notification shade. They basically do the same thing but in a different fashion.

IMO the two systems do not work in reverse of each other, at all.

You DO NOT have to go into the app drawer to get into your apps on android IF they are on one of your home screens. As an example, on an android device if you do not keep the clock app on a home screen and want to access it later then go into the app drawer. On iOS for iPhone there is nothing you can do with the clock app other than put it in a folder, but it will always be a part of one of your home screens, along with other apps you rarely use, as there is nothing you can do with them, per se. Not sure what's being done in the reverse here.

Onto the widgets. iOS' attempt at widgets are not nearly to the same scale of what android widgets are. Android widgets are interactive, customizable, and can be placed anywhere. No pull down required. I don't see anything being done in the reverse here either.

Android provides customization when it comes to home screens and iOS does not. Or it can be said that iOS is very limited with how you can customize its screens. Widgets, I just do not think is a contest between the two operating systems, even if done in a different fashion. Perhaps Apple will expand the capabilities of what they call "widgets" but as of now it's not something that can be compared to the android experience.

 

[Zendroid1]

I have an iPhone 6s Plus and Nexus 6P currently but had a Galaxy s6 and a note 5 for awhile. I will say the note 5 is an absolutely gorgeous phone to hold and use and the camera is much better than the iphone. It focuses and snaps pics so much faster than my iphone or nexus. For me I prefer the nexus and iphone because they are de-cruddified. After using Samsung for a few month it always started to bother me with the slowdowns and having to tweak things constantly to get decent battery life. If they released a GPE of the Notes or Galaxies I'd probably be back in with Samsung more often than I am.

 

[SquireSCA]

IMO the two systems do not work in reverse of each other, at all.

You DO NOT have to go into the app drawer to get into your apps on android IF they are on one of your home screens. As an example, on an android device if you do not keep the clock app on a home screen and want to access it later then go into the app drawer. On iOS for iPhone there is nothing you can do with the clock app other than put it in a folder, but it will always be a part of one of your home screens, along with other apps you rarely use, as there is nothing you can do with them, per se. Not sure what's being done in the reverse here.

Onto the widgets. iOS' attempt at widgets are not nearly to the same scale of what android widgets are. Android widgets are interactive, customizable, and can be placed anywhere. No pull down required. I don't see anything being done in the reverse here either.

Android provides customization when it comes to home screens and iOS does not. Or it can be said that iOS is very limited with how you can customize its screens. Widgets, I just do not think is a contest between the two operating systems, even if done in a different fashion. Perhaps Apple will expand the capabilities of what they call "widgets" but as of now it's not something that can be compared to the android experience.

You are right on the money.

I think that iOS when it came out, was brilliant. But at one time, Windows 3.11 was considered cutting edge, compared to DOS.

Technology and how people interact with their phones, has changed, dramatically.

Widgets and real time info of things as they happen, is common. Apple took a crack at it and it is better than nothing, but it is not in the ballpark of Android. Is it usable? Sure! Is it as good as it COULD be?

Not even close.

Apple tries too hard to make things "*****-proof", but if taken too far, you actually make it harder to use.

Case in point.

I have a large PDF file, it is a shop manual for one of my ATV's. I want a copy on my iPad or phone, not in the cloud, because I could be on a trip somewhere and need it and might not have a cell signal in the woods...

On an Android or Windows device, you just plug it into a PC, it pops up like a thumb drive, I drag it to the device and it copies. That's it. I have a file manager on the device, just like you do on a PC or Mac, and I click the icon, grab the file and the first time I try to open it, it asks me which app I prefer to use to read the file and presents me with a list. I select my preferred app and it will remember that.

From now on, all I have to do is click the PDF file and it just launches it with the app that I told it to. One click, simple.

On iDevices if you don't wan to use the cloud... I can't just drag and drop a PDF to the device. I have to install an app and mess around with it in iTunes to get it to copy it over.

Then I need an app to simulate a file manager to go and find that file. When I click on the file, it only lets me select the default app that Apple in all their wisdom decided that I should use because as a 43 year old tech savvy guy, I can't have that kind of power and freedom. LOL

Ok, so it launches with that app. But there is a problem! The default app can only access a 50mb file, and my file is 75mb!

So after telling me it cannot open with that, it THEN lets me pick another app to open it with, and it copies the file over to that and finally lets me open it.

Here is the catch. I now have two copies of that file taking up space on my device. The Default app has a copy in its sandbox, and my preferred app has one.

But wait, there's more! Next time I want to access that file, I have to go through the whole process again... open the pseudo file manager app, find it, select it, have it open in the default app, have it fail, and then have it allow me to select which app I want and then and only then can I open my damned file.

On what planet is that considered "user friendly"? That is a horrible user experience by any measure and if I have to jump through that many hoops every time I want to open s stupid PDF, how the hell is my mom gonna figure it out? LOL

The fact that there is no user file system, for me to just save email attachments(other than pics) to a "My Stuff" or "My Downloads" folder that I can just go to and access later, or easily attach a saved file to an email, like every other platform on the planet allows, is another crazy limitation that doesn't need to be there.

Long time Apple fans just accept it as "what it is", because most of them don't know that there is a better way. They have lived with those limitations and molded their usage patterns around them. They don't know what they don't know, in many cases...

Coming from Android though, where a simplified user experience is common, with a much more streamlined way of dong things, and many of them "just work" out of the box, is an eye opener.

Like others have said, most of these things "can" be done on an iDevice, but more often than not it is through apps, work-arounds, cloud services and extra steps... It's not nearly as intuitive as many Apple fans like to claim.

The Apple hardware, TOP NOTCH. And iOS does have some cool elements. But side by side, measured against the features, the polish and the overall ease of use, mixed with more power and customization... iOS is an antiquated platform in many ways compared to Android. Google is pushing the envelope, and Apple is playing catch up.

Google is now the world's most valuable company. Android is installed on more devices that ANY OS in the world. That includes the PC and server markets. It is the most installed OS of any kind, that the world has ever seen, and their stock price has doubled while Apple's is half of what it used to be.

This isn't a bash on Apple, as you know, I am now running both an iPad and an iPhone... But it is what it is...

Both are great products, but Android clearly has a lot of advantages...

 

[Wildo6882]

I have an iPhone 6s Plus and Nexus 6P currently but had a Galaxy s6 and a note 5 for awhile. I will say the note 5 is an absolutely gorgeous phone to hold and use and the camera is much better than the iphone. It focuses and snaps pics so much faster than my iphone or nexus. For me I prefer the nexus and iphone because they are de-cruddified. After using Samsung for a few month it always started to bother me with the slowdowns and having to tweak things constantly to get decent battery life. If they released a GPE of the Notes or Galaxies I'd probably be back in with Samsung more often than I am.

Are you keeping the iPhone and Nexus? What do you think of the two? I'm using a 6s Plus, and while I have absolutely no issue with it - it works flawlessly - I'm still eyeing that 6P.

 

[SquireSCA]

And now apparently my posts have to be approved by a mod to appear? Really?

Someone asks a question to contrast the two phones and platforms, and honest real world feedback gets reported and censored if it isn't completely positive towards Apple? LOL

Why allow the question, if I can't answer it honestly and respectfully?

I had a really excellent post with a bunch of really good examples, no name calling, nothing negative, just comparisons and that post said I needed a mod to approve it and it still hasn't shown up... Weird

 

[zocster]

And now apparently my posts have to be approved by a mod to appear? Really?

Someone asks a question to contrast the two phones and platforms, and honest real world feedback gets reported and censored if it isn't completely positive towards Apple? LOL

Why allow the question, if I can't answer it honestly and respectfully?

I had a really excellent post with a bunch of really good examples, no name calling, nothing negative, just comparisons and that post said I needed a mod to approve it and it still hasn't shown up... Weird

No? We get loads of spam daily, and sometimes posts gets caught in the filter, nothing we can do about that.

 

[SquireSCA]

No? We get loads of spam daily, and sometimes posts gets caught in the filter, nothing we can do about that.

Ok, fair enough... I was like what the heck? I didn't say anything bad or inflammatory and it was on topic... LOL

 

[Zendroid1]

Are you keeping the iPhone and Nexus? What do you think of the two? I'm using a 6s Plus, and while I have absolutely no issue with it - it works flawlessly - I'm still eyeing that 6P.

Right now I have the iPhone for sale but I'm a bit torn. I love both. Learning towards the Nexus right now since selling it would pay for the Nexus and then some.

 

[llfloyd79]

I also switched from a Note 5 to a iPhone 6S Plus. I will admit I do at times miss the Note 5. Only because iPhone sometimes gets boring. I go thru the boring phase once and awhile with my 6S Plus....after a day or two it passes lol. For me what makes it hard is my wife, son, a few family members, my best friend, and a few other friends have iPhone, so sharing pics or videos comes very easy due to iMessage. For example my son plays football so I video some of his plays during the game. He likes to save them so it's easy to send him high resolution videos thru iMessage. I know there are work arounds for you to send these high resolution videos or pics with an android phone to iPhone as well Dropbox or google drive.

I also miss the customization. Not as much as I use too in the past. But having the option to do it and knowing you can is a big plus.

OS updates and security updates are also is important to me. Something that iPhone does very well. I know android reasons on why they can't do it as fast as iPhone. But i do wish it could be a little faster. Waiting 4 or 5 months for an OS update is crazy. Like I said I understand the reasons on why due to the carriers and the manufacturers.

But anyway....so I still til this day think about my decision to go with my iPhone 6S Plus over my Note 5. As stated by many others there are pros and cons on both platforms. I just can't decide which is best for me lol lol.

 

[anon(153966)]

To me, the Note 5 and the iPhone 6s Plus are pretty close. It will be interesting if finally one day Apple allow OWNERS of their devices to configure them at will...

 

[Wildo6882]

Right now I have the iPhone for sale but I'm a bit torn. I love both. Learning towards the Nexus right now since selling it would pay for the Nexus and then some.

Yeah, that's part of my reasoning - saving money. But the issues I read about the Nexus on Android Central and other sites are keeping me away. I have no issues with my iPhone other than I wish it allowed for a little more customization and setting defaults. It's a great phone that does everything very well.

 

[MooMooPrincess]

The bickering here is astounding.

 

[anon(153966)]

The bickering here is astounding.

Albeit it is, there is still some very valid arguments and points being made here, too.

 

[MooMooPrincess]

Albeit it is, there is still some very valid arguments and points being made here, too.

Indeed haha but I'd expect more class in an iPhone forum

 

[Adawg1203]

Indeed haha but I'd expect more class in an iPhone forum

Hmmm now that's an interesting statement.

 

[Richard Spafford]

RE: Question about other top end Android phones.
I have the iPhone 6s Plus and the Google Nexus 6P. Both are excellent phones, and I would have a very difficult time choosing between them. Aesthetically, and despite the so-called "bump" at the top of the Nexus back (which is really a visual negative much more than a bump on the plane of the back panel), they are both beautiful phones, and both are excellent in daily usage. Apple's phone is exceptionally well-built. My gripe with it, besides the obscene price, is that they have a phone large enough for a 5.7" screen, and probably 5.8", but they haven't made the move to minimize bezels nor turn their physical button into a software button. Despite the bump, overall, I'd give the Nexus a very slight advantage. Android 6 is terrific.

 

[wezra]

Went from the iPhone 5s to the Note 5. After having to return 3 Notes for the same reason... Unresponsive S Pen issues and constant lock ups, T-Mobile allowed me to switch back to the iPhone. I have a 6s and couldn't be happier. That said, I have to admit that the screen on the Note 5 is phenomenal. No problems watching Netflix or other HD video material. Apple needs to step up to a competitive screen.

All that said, and after a number of years with Android... I'm sticking with the iPhone from here on out. I simply don't have the issues I had with Android. My 6s works flawlessly with only an occasional lock up caused by a web site I'm on. And the hardware is premium as everyone knows. I guess enough said....

 

[SquireSCA]

Hmmm now that's an interesting statement.

Yeah, it presumes that owning an apple product makes you inherently more classy... It doesn't.

It also concludes that our factual and civil discussion of the pros and cons of each platform, is somehow... Unclassy? Lol

That's an interesting conclusion...