A Windows Phone Fanboy's Review of iOS 7 on the 5s Part Two

z33dev33l

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Hi guys, guess I came back for round two. You may all know me as the Windows Phone fanboy who wrote up a review of iOS and the 5s and got hated like mad. Well, I came back after experiencing the phone for more than 48 hours and wanted to post my full thoughts on the phone. To make this a fair comparison, I've been using iOS for the past two weeks as a daily driver. It's been a huge change that's offered both pleasantries and aggravations. I've broken it down to elements that I thought were important and while I know some of you will hate that I have anything bad to say about the iPhone, I'm sure some will appreciate this for what it is.


1. Build Quality:
I'm not going to lie, the build quality on this thing is pretty fantastic. The 4s and back shattered like it was nothing and the 5 seemed just mildly top heavy but with the 5s, they actually did an excellent job of crafting a piece of hardware for the hand. The chassis actually stays pretty cool shockingly enough and the buttons feel absolutely great. Everything feels very well put together and while a little on the light side for my taste, it doesn't feel airy like some phones tend to. All this said, the aspect ratio of it is a bit strange for me, I thought I'd get used to it over the course of two weeks but it still all seems a bit narrow. Overall though, a solid device.


2. Hardware:
I'm not going to get in the ridiculous ***** measuring contest of, "My processor is bigger than yours" because we all know (except for the android fans) that well-optimized software trumps more cores any day. For the first time though, it feels like Apple is ahead of the game even in this respect. I'm truly shocked by this as they were the ones putting 600 mHz processors in everything when Android had been using 1 gig and 1.2 gig for a year. It's really cool to see them doing well in the hardware game to and the GPU is a force to be reckoned with. I can't wait til some more stuff moves from the old UI and gets replaced and some games really take advantage of this. It's a piece of art in itself. Also, I know I mentioned this already but I want to state again, I love the buttons.


3. User Interface:
I'll start by saying again, prior to iOS 7, iPhones felt like nothing but an app launcher to me offering very little interaction with the UI and overall lessening the user experience unless you're an app hound. With the introduction of iOS 7, they added a great amount of gestures that make the phone genuinely feel like an extension of yourself, they added beautiful animations and they made the phone actually look modern as opposed to the stale old iOS. I really wish other OS's would take advantage of the beauty that is gestures so well because I don't want to have to buy a Jolla phone.


4. Camera:
Honestly, I'm impressed. I mean, the picture quality doesn't match that of the Nokia Lumia 1020 that I use as my daily driver but the quality is great. Also, as much as I hate to admit it, while the overall quality is better with the 1020, as a point and shoot, the iPhone tends to work better due to the faster shutter speed and the less complex algorithms. The pictures are generally crisp enough though it was subpar at best in low light testing and the flash tended to wash things out.


5. The Keyboard:
This is the part I absolutely HATE about this phone. There is a lot to love but this is the only reason I could not even consider this thing for my daily driver. The responsiveness is certainly good enough, it's alost instantaneous and certainly not measurable by the human eye. However, the lack of a period on the main screen was my initial turn-off with the phone. I know you can double tap the space button but there are several instances in my day where I have to use a period and that's not an option be it a decimal point or an ellipses. That wasn't even the worst part though, the auto correct is absolutely horrid. When you have a phone with a keyboard at that tiny, people who text need a decent auto-correct and I'm pretty sure theirs hasn't been updated since the 3G. The lack of a wordflow type option also drastically slowed it down but the next item almost made up for it.


6. Siri:
Yes, even some iPhone owners feel it's gimmicky and won't use it. I will. I love toying with it on my phone, I do a decent amount of texting on it and overall I use it quite a bit. Great feature though I wish some apps would utilize the APIs for it a little better. That's not Apple's fault though.


7. Overall:
My opinion on Apple hasn't changed. I don't think they've ever done much in the way of innovating but they're finally taking other ideas and improving on them and in a way that's just as good. I don't think it's a smarter smartphone than my Lumia 1020 primarily because of the incomprehensibly stupid keyboard but it's certainly usable and I never thought I'd say that about an iPhone.


In conclusion, I like it. I'm not in love with it but I'd take it over a GS4 any day. I feel like Apple is on the right track to regaining some of that market share they've been leaking like mad and the iPhone, for the first time ever, feels usable. I couldn't bear to look at the previous UI.
 

Chris Parsons

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Nice overview of good and bad aspects and like all things tech, it comes down to what's based on your needs more so than anything else.
 

Eileen89

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I like and agree with most of what you posted here. In my own tests of taking pictures in low lighting, though. I found the pictures are much improved over the low light pictures that were taken with my old iPhone 5. I haven't found any that were washed out yet. I believe the dual flash has a lot to offer... As far as the keyboard goes, I have a love-hate relationship with auto correct on. I feel as though this was better in iOS 6.... I use Siri about 1 or 2 times a day and while it certainly isn't a necessity, I like having it available for some tasks.
 

Trees

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In my view you weren't hated, but rather received strong pushback for the opening statement in your first post.
 

taz323

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Nice read, I do believe like Chris Parsons has stated, It's all on what your needs are. But it was good overview thanks.
 

claudeburdel

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It's a good phone aside from having a near unusable keyboard.
I recently switched to iPhone after using a Windows Phone for a year. While I miss the predictive text ribbon, I'm actually finding the iPhone keyboard to be easier to type on, which surprised me since the WP keyboard is supposed to be one of its strengths.
 

doublebullout

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I recently switched to iPhone after using a Windows Phone for a year. While I miss the predictive text ribbon, I'm actually finding the iPhone keyboard to be easier to type on, which surprised me since the WP keyboard is supposed to be one of its strengths.
I've used a 920 as my daily phone for the past year, and the WP keyboard is definitely a strength. The autocorrect does seem to be better than iOS, and predictive text is a nice feature that I miss when I switch back to my iPhone 4. But the accuracy of the iOS keyboard is better than any other keyboard IMO. I find that I'm able to type faster on the iPhone keyboard even though the relative key size and touch targets are slightly bigger on the 920 screen.
 

baseballbert

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I use both as well, and from a pure OS perspective it seems WP is beginning to flow a little better. Its easier to contact people (not as many steps) and it seems faster to get to the information you want.

I especially like the back button. There are still things it needs to improve on like the results from the search button, but I think it's headed in the right direction. The camera functionality is amazing.

iOS has better apps and I'm glad the phones aren't turning into huge phablets. I really like iMovie, and there isn't an equivalent on WP. I think apps represent a little better on this side as well. Web browsing also wins here because you can go back and forward.

Both are good and definitely have their plus and minus aspects. Find what you like and use it.

That's the great thing about having a choice!
 

claudeburdel

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I use both as well, and from a pure OS perspective it seems WP is beginning to flow a little better. Its easier to contact people (not as many steps) and it seems faster to get to the information you want.
I liked the way we could make a tile out of a contact in WP, so we could tap on that tile to go directly to the contact. But using Siri to make calls is a good substitute.
 

Superjudge

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I agree with keyboard complaints. It's a good but not great keyboard. It's something they could improve in the future but obviously it's works well enough that they can leave it alone. If they aren't going to allow third party solutions, I'd like to see them add some swype type of functionality. Not holding my breath on that one though.

To be honest there is one area where they have to improve quickly and that is notifications/notification center. It's easily the worst part of iOS and seems so far behind other platforms including those that aren't with us anymore. (WebOS) It's the most inconsistent experience on the platform.
 

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