Home EditorialWhy The iPhone Is Impossible For Me To Use
04
Feb

Why The iPhone Is Impossible For Me To Use

Written by Rachid Otsmane-Elhaou. Posted in Editorial

Feel free to contact me directly on twitter @le3ky if you like my posts or want to discuss further!!

I was recently given an iPhone for use as my work phone and you know, I actually quite looked forward to seeing how the other half lived and worked. I went into it trying to keep an open mind, and not let my thoughts of ios judge how I was about to use it. I think coming from android might have spoiled me slightly, I probably expect too much from a phone now. If I had come from a dumbphone, my view of the iPhone would probably be quite different, as it is, the following key things stood out at me..

Shortcuts

There is no quick way to disable/enable things like WiFi or Bluetooth. Each of these takes multiple clicks. It should be easy. It isn’t, it’s frustrating, especially if you do it lots like I do.

Android lets you add quick toggles to your notification bar, a much more user-friendly way.

Background Processes

Possibly the most disappointing aspect of ios. The scope of background processes is extremely poor. Two big examples are that Dropbox cannot upload your camera uploads unless you open the app. That is one of the main reasons Dropbox included this feature! So you don’t have to worry about doing it. The other? Spotify will stop syncing your playlists after a few minutes once you leave the app. Needless to say, it won’t even attempt to sync them unless you open the app to begin with.

Things like this happen on android automatically. Apps can have separate background threads designed to do things like sync playlists, and upload photos without eating up your battery.

Folders

Apple won’t let you move certain apps inside a folder, so if you don’t read magazines or newspapers on your 3.5″ screen, you’re stuck looking at an empty bookshelf forever. Literally, you can’t remove it unless you jailbreak. I know, I thought the same too, you actually have to jailbreak your device in order to move an app icon into a folder (or totally from view).

It feels a bit silly to even mention android folders in the same paragraph, the functionality is miles apart.

App Interaction

Apps do not speak to each other at all. You can only share to apps that the app you’re in says you can. This leads to some strange situations:

  • You can’t share a photo to Instagram from the camera. You have to actually close the gallery and then go into Instagram, then locate the image inside the gallery. Way too many clicks than should be necessary.
  • You are presented the option to share to apps you don’t even have installed! Talk about confusing!

If you’ve ever used android, you’ll understand just how sophisticated app interaction can be, and how pathetic Apple’s version is.

Settings

The settings to configure an app are not accessible from the app in question. Using an app and want to change how it works? You have to leave the app, go to the settings icon, scroll all the way down what could be a pretty huge list (you have to scroll past all the Apple-owned apps first, even if you never use these), then enter the settings option for that app. Then you have to go back and reopen the app again. It’s a long, drawn out process, that makes little sense to me.

Unlimited Data

You can’t download an app that is larger than 50mb unless you are on WiFi, or unless you connect your phone to iTunes. You know that unlimited data you pay a lot to your network for? Apple doesn’t care.

Notifications

The notification pulldown is quite poor. It shows every notification for each app, rather than grouping them. This means the list can get pretty large, and the only way to clear an item is to clear all items.

  • You also have to do two things to clear a list of items. 1: Click the cross, then 2: click clear. One action should suffice here.
  • You get told of a new notification, but after the initial message you have no idea if you have any. You have to manually swipe down to see if there are any there. Ruins the point of a notification panel.

Keyboard

iPhone owners say the keyboard is fantastic, the only conclusion I can reach is they have never used something like SwiftKey on android. Because the ios keyboard falls dead on its arse once you’ve used android. Little things like:

  • The keys always show uppercase letters. sure you can tell if you’re actually about to type in upper-case as the shift key is highlighted, but come on, it feels so archaic when you’re using it.
  • You have to click the more button to type anything other than a letter. Writing anything with a comma, question mark or number in takes twice as long as you have to switch back and forth over and over.
  • When you tap on a letter, the pop-up showing you what you clicked is enormous! Its ridiculous  it’s so big it actually stops you from seeing the character you want to type next.

Screen

There is no point having a good camera when you can barely see anything you take as the screen is so small. This isn’t just holding back the camera either. You need great eye-sight to use an iPhone, everything is tiny.

Sure you can zoom in on the browser, but then you can’t see much of anything else.

  • Most apps don’t let you zoom.
  • This is a big issue during general navigation too. The amount of times I’ve had to keep jabbing at a small cross, or mini back button because it doesn’t register my touch. It’s just annoying.

Default Apps

So I use Chrome on every device, why? So all my stuff syncs wherever I am, whatever I’m using. Apple tries its hardest to make your life difficult. I installed Chrome on the iPhone, but I rarely ever got a chance to use it. Apple defaults to Safari for everything. This is the same for the majority of apps that Apple bundle with the phone. Keyboard, dialler, email client, you name it, you probably can’t change it!

UI

The UI is really beginning to show its age. This is essentially a 6 year old design, and it shows. When others are actually pushing design forward (see Windows Phone, Android), Apple are really stuck in a rut here. If you disagree and own an iPhone, then simply take a look at any google app on your device. You’ll understand what I mean.

A couple of years ago I’d get laughed at for saying this, but right now Apple is trailing far behind android on looks.

Scrolling

The scrolling! Have you ever tried scrolling on an iPhone? It’s like you purposely stuck your phone in a big tin of Golden Syrup, then put glue on your thumb, then attempted to scroll down a web page.

Downloads

Fancy downloading an attachment from your email? Tough luck. You can open it, you can share it to about 4 places (the places Apple allow you to), but download it? No chance.

Conclusion

That is just a list of things that annoy me about the iPhone, there are plenty more things that android does a lot better, but quite frankly I ran out of time.

The single biggest annoyance though? Apple makes it clear when you use the iPhone that it knows best. They know better than you what apps you want to use, how you want to interact, how you set your phone up. But throughout my use of the iPhone I’ve come to one major conclusion. Apple knows nothing about me.

But wait, it’s not all bad. Apple does have some good stuff going for it (if you forget about the cost), I mean it’s all about the apps right..? Right? (NB: This argument doesn’t work when your biggest competitor also has hundreds of thousands of great apps).

But truthfully, there are some things that Google can learn from Apple. I’ll discuss these in an upcoming post!

Rachid Otsmane-Elhaou

Rachid Otsmane-Elhaou (27) is a Business Analyst by day, but his real passion is technology, and in particular android (how can you not love the little green guy?). Rachid runs the Droid-Den website, that came about with a mission to help and inform android users about the great device(s) they have in their grasp.

Find me on Twitter (Le3ky) and Google+.

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  • http://twitter.com/GadgetsBoy GadgetsBoy

    I like this, and I agree with most of it.  Just wanted to say the irony is that, those reasons are also why Apple fanboys love the iPhone.  What or How do you think Google can improve on Android going forward? and same question for Apple iOS?

  • Abhijeet Mishra

    Hah, I have almost exactly the same complaints, though thankfully I have iOS only on the tablet so it’s not an issue ruining my every day life. :P  

    “Apple makes it clear when you use the iPhone that it knows best.” Yes, Apple seems to focus purely on those that don’t want to get much out of their smartphone and just want to launch apps, not geeks and power users and those who might want to do a few things akin to a computer (like downloading any file, zipping files together and uploading somewhere, have apps doing things in the background, etc.). 

    They say they make things really easy for the average consumer, yet I fail to see how things like needing to go to the homescreen to stop an app download as there is no stop button in the App Store itself make it easy for the average consumer, to whom it’d probably never occur that an app download can be stopped that way. Or the fact that the music controls on the lockscreen come up on a double press of the home button, which I discovered by accident then had to tell my Mom and sis about it who also use my iPad. I mean, “just works” and “easy to use” are not phrases I’d use to define iOS today. 

    Then there’s multitasking. Oh boy, those limitations are so crazy (like an IRC client unable to stay connected for more than 10 minutes in the background). It amazes me how many self-proclaimed “geeks and power users” can really live with iOS on their main smartphone. Guess it’s the “smoothness and speed and good looks” of the OS that rise above all else, plus the battery life which is great, otherwise I fail to see the charm (oh, and HD games run and look much better on iPhone/iPad comparatively).

    But yes, I’d say too that Google could learn a few things from Apple (mainly consistency, though Google is improving in that regard). Looking forward to that post.Good article!

    • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

      Thanks so much for the comment Abhijeet, you made some good points too!

  • http://kennydude.me/ Joe Simpson

    Android needs to get the design right and consistent. Google can help by demoting apps that do not fit in with Android (Twitter could be put bellow the other apps because it does not look and feel right).

    Also there is literally so much depth inside of Android’s SDK that is there but not used and abused enough. RemoteViews, Binders, Public Content Providers and much more. We need to see in the future most apps interconnected in such a way which is seamless on Android

  • http://twitter.com/darktheory Nij (InfiniteGooner)

    i’ve always disliked the iphone but didn’t realise there are so many reasons to dislike it after reading your review.

    • John Longson

       I didn’t imagine there were this many GOOD reasons either.

  • Zamees

    I hear what you are talking about. I do know that there are a few short cuts that you might not be aware of at this time. I found the forum to be very helpful and as I read thru some of my ?’s I found answers to things I was unaware were available.

    I have only used an apple and never wanted to jailbreak, thereby negating the integrity of their system. I am not staunch in dedication but they do have good fail safes. I put all my unwanted apps that I can’t folder on the back page and never bother with them.

    I wonder if we sent directly to Apple the ideas as you have them listed plus a few others that they may work on adding them in.

    I want a left arrow key so I don’t have erase everything as sometimes the finger finder wants to copy!!
    Thanks for the post. I enjoyed knowing what the other side thinks.

  • natavia

    i lovethat

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003150122710 Brandon Shea

    I can’t tell if this is a parody or not. There are a couple valid points, but a few things jump out at me as blatantly ridiculous.

    1) What exactly is the purpose of quick toggles for things like wifi, Bluetooth, etc? Most people have absolutely no desire to manage their phone to that degree. If your phone’s battery life is bad enough that you need to worry about things like that, I’d argue that you just need a better phone. I never have to manage any of those options on my iPhone, and my battery life is consistently better than on any Android device I’ve used.

    2) The keyboard in iOS could probably use some extra prediction options, but I’m still able to type faster with it than on any Android keyboards I’ve used. I think a large part of this just has to do with the touchscreen accuracy – my Evo 4G was especially bad, and would often hit multiple keys or the wrong key with a touch. The Galaxy Nexus seemed better, but even then, it seemed like there was often a delay when pressing keys as compared to the iPhone. I’ve never actually seen the purpose of Swiftkey (too much effort put into correcting bad predictions in my testing), but I guess it’s good enough for many people.

    3) You are literally the first tech blogger I’ve ever seen that has praised scrolling on Android when compared to iOS. If there is one thing that Android has been bad at since the beginning, it’s scrolling performance. Trying to scroll through pages on my Nexus 7 is almost tedious because it gets so laggy and jittery.

    • Gabriel Romero

      1) For someone like me who needs to toggle WiFi on and off all the time because I like using my 4G when I’m at work and my WiFi when I’m at home,this is totally convenient  Let’s be honest, we use “smart-phones” for convenience. It’s a “didn’t miss it till I had it” feature, just like automatic locks on a car.

      2) Depends on the phone, but SwiftKey and Swype (or the new 4.2 keyboard) are fast and convenient. Hunt and pecking on a touchscreen will never be as great as a physical keyboard, and I am very glad people are innovating around this. The iOS keyboard is about the same as my 1st generation iPod Touch, which is definitely not a good thing.

      3) First tech blogger I have seen praise it too. I think what he likes is that it is speedy though. On iOS it looks smoother because it forces you to scroll very slow, where on Android, if you so choose, you can flick it as fast as you want, and it will respond accordingly.

      • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003150122710 Brandon Shea

        Simple solution: don’t connect to wifi at work in the first place. Seems like a no-brainer, but maybe not.

        I do like the keyboard in 4.1 and 4.2, and it’s easily the best I’ve used on Android so far. Maybe I just didn’t use it long enough, but Swiftkey always seemed like more effort than it was worth, and it definitely doesn’t seem to be worth the price over the stock Android keyboard in Jelly Bean.

        For the record, iOS doesn’t look smoother because it’s slow, it looks smoother because user input is prioritized over background tasks and because of hardware acceleration. It scrolls as fast as you want it to, just like Android, but in a much more predictable way.

        • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

          You should spend some time with SwiftKey, it definitely is worth the price.

        • Gabriel Romero

          Again, seems like a no-brainer, but data is not available everywhere on my job. I work in multiple building, and in basements it is nice to have WiFi, otherwise I keep it off. For the record, I’m scrolling on my galaxy nexus next to two iPhone’s and I am winning.

      • Jerry

        I am not really sure what the problem is with the way the iPhone handles WIFI. My iPhone is automatic. When I am in range of a WIFI that I have used before, it just silently switches to WIFI. That way the only time I have to touch the settings is when I get in range of a WIFI that previously worked and is now broken. Otherwise when I am in range of a WIFI, the phone uses it and when I leave it silently switches to LTE or 3G or EDGE In that order until I get back in range of a WIFI. Seems easier than a pushbutton to me.

        It looks to me like the Android users are accustomed to working too hard to get what they want. Then of course I have said that about Windows users since 1983. If you want a tool to get a job done, buy an Apple. If you want a computer that you can build into a tool get an Android or Windows device they are much better at that task than Apple will ever be.

        • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

          The point is, to turn on wifi, or bluetooth, or screen rotation, you don’t have to work hard. You have to work a lot harder on ios to do the same thing.

        • Gabriel Romero

          You’re just only thinking about this WiFi thing from your own point of view. For example, at my work we have a gated network, it is a university, so if I want to use WiFi where there is no 4G available (in a basement) I have to open up a webrowser on my phone (or any device) and log in after I connect to WiFi. So if I want to use WiFi, this is great, but If I am somewhere where 4G is around, and so is WiFi, my Android phone, just like an iPhone, will preference the WiFi. But the thing is, is that if it’s the university WiFi, it will connect, because I’ve connected before when I spent the time typing my username and password in, and it wont be able to do anything until I open the browser and type in a password. Same at some coffee shops, etc. So when I am on the go around the University, and it connects to WiFi in the middle of my data interactions, it is much less annoying to just flip off WiFi then to be suddenly disconnected from whatever task I am doing to type in a username and password only to be disconnected and then reconnected and having to do it all over again every building I pass (on a bus, listening to pandora, whatever). And don’t say “the iPhone doesn’t do this”, because I am sitting right next to two people that have them, and they do the same thing. Therefor, it’s nice to turn my WiFi off from the first screen I see, because it makes my life much less annoying.

    • RVAJeff

      “What exactly is the purpose of quick toggles for things like wifi, Bluetooth, etc? Most people have absolutely no desire to manage their phone to that degree” I use them all the time and it has nothing to do with battery. Sometimes I get tired of constantly seeing which wifi network is available so I turn it off. If I get in my wife’s car before her (we both have bluetooth sync’d to it) then I turn off bluetooth so her phone will sync before mine. Sometimes I want to quickly enable vibrate instead of volume pressing all the way down. Sometimes I want to lower or raise the screen brightness and my S3 has the slider built into the dropdown. It’s called convenience. And there’s no good reason for it to not exist on products that are made primarily for convenience, such as smart phones.

      • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003150122710 Brandon Shea

        iOS and Android (and even Windows Phone) all have options to not notify you of wireless networks.

        You do make a good point about Bluetooth – I hadn’t really considered a case like that.

        iPhones have a switch on the side of the phone to switch to silent mode. You don’t even need to turn the screen on.

        iPhones have a quick brightness setting as well, just open the multitasking menu and slide to the left.

        • RVAJeff

          It’s still just fine to have a quick option to turn off wireless in the notification bar. And same with brightness, silent mode, etc. The point is – it’s all consolidated in one, easy to access place. The whole point he made in the article was that it’s just more convenient, instead of all of these various shortcuts on an iphone. I’ve owned many i-products, and honestly it’s little things like this that drew me away from them. Each android OS upgrade has offered another convenient layout improvement. The whole point of his article, in my opinion.

    • Cebastian Rosing

      This is why iPhone people fail at protecting reasons like these;

      1) So what? You don’t need them, others do. Apparently. If you don’t use them, don’t be bothered, they are not in any way in your way of doing stuff you want to do. iPhone lacks this because it doesn’t offer the possibility at all.
      2) Lol. Try harder. He has valid points there are a few annoyances with the iOS keyboard, non too bad, but I swear, any one, remotely bright would choose swiftkey because 1) It predicts better, and gets better, and it actually fixes typos. Really fast. And you have acces to .,?! and #1-9 in the default keyboard. It’s rediculous you have to change layout for comma and period. How hard is that? Oh yeah, your screen is tiny.

      3) Scrolling is so bad on iOS! WHY ON EARTH DOESN’T IT SCROLL LIKE A NORMAL INTERFACE? Whn I have to go to the bottom of a page, or middel, or just down. I have to wait and swipe and swipe and swipe.. Fails.Hi iSheep! Have phun with your iPhone, you obviously already do ;)

      • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003150122710 Brandon Shea

        Calling me an iSheep does very little to make your arguments sound convincing. I’ve owned several Android devices for extended periods of time and used them daily.

    • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

      Quick toggles are fantastic. For example, I have a quick toggle to change the orientation lock. This is great when I’m lying in my bed holding the phone at an angle (The Galaxy devices actually have a thing called smart stay too, Google it, you’d be impressed with the innovation!), or when I exit my car I like to disable bluetooth. It’s something I don’t need or want running all the time.

    • Logan Kraus

      1) I always use toggles on android.  It isn’t even about battery life – if you long-press a quick toggle, it opens further settings for them.  For example, if you long-press the wifi toggle, it opens wifi settings.  It’s also really nice for quickly putting your phone on silent or vibrate, turning on the flashlight, and that sort of thing.

      2) Touch accuracy has more to do with the hardware than the software.  As you said, there was a difference between the Evo 4G and the Galaxy Nexus.  This is really an issue with the manufacturer, not Android.  I have a Galaxy S3 with stock Android on it, and the keyboard is fantastic.

      3) Android 4.2 fixes tons of issues in regards to scrolling, and makes it a very smooth experience.  Again, my Galaxy S3 is just as smooth as the iPhone, and clips along at a faster rate as well.

    • guest

      1) Toggles are very useful. Like setting your phone into airplane mode without having to go through 2-3 screens, turn the sound on and off, bluetooth, WiFi etc… I used to have an iPhone and the inaccessibility just drove me nuts.

      2) If you use Jelly Beans you can type a lot faster by swiping keys together, the iPhone or other Androids that don’t do this come even close. The predictability is also very nice on Android and sometimes you can type a whole sentence just by using words proposed by the device.

      3) JB + Project Butter make scrolling incredibly smooth. You Nexus 7 is probably the older one. I have the Nexus 4 as my phone and I have zero issue with speed. Not to mention that I can actually see stuff on the screen compared to the iPhone that is just tiny.  

  • anx anxian

    I just want a ‘delete all mail’ button and I’ll be happy.

  • Phil

    Why this website lacks any credibility: This post

    Did Apple rape your sister or something? The fanboyism radiating off of this post is off the charts.

    • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

      The title says it all, where I use the word “me”. These are my thoughts about it, although obviously this is an android website, and I am an android user. However, I did try to be objective when making my points, and back them up.

      • Phil

        Is there anything you think the iPhone is better at than Android?

        How long did you actually use the device before writing this?

        • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

          Yes Phil there are, many things the iPhone does better than android. This post will be coming up shortly :P

        • Abraham Collins

           iPhone sucks, dude. Let it go.

      • Jeroen van der Maat

        From another Android user who was provided an iPhoney by work, I fully agree with all these points. Some of these “design decisions” are back-asswards. Like the author said, if you came from a simple flip-phone, the iPhone is a major step up. However coming from Android where things just work, going to an iPhone, you expect more.
        One of the things that also bugged me was lack of landscape mode. Android allows all apps to work in landscape, but on the iPhone you are forced to use it in portrait mode (Except for the occasional app. But lock screen is portrait, so you have to switch back and forth. Especially inconvenient when mounted to a car dock)

    • Billy

      Did you actually read the article?  Most points make sense if you actually take the time to read them without bias, which I am sure you have plenty of.  And bringing up “rape”?  Classy.

      Oh, and this is also an Android fan site.  ;-)

    • Brian

      Yes, this article is full of opinions, but each complaint is backed by a fact (except for scrolling). Your comment radiates a lot more fanboyism than his article.

      • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

        Thanks Brian, I tried to give actual reasons for most of my points, but the scrolling one is definitely subjective!

    • Bo S.

      Totally agree. I hate the bias. I would believe this article if it was posted in Macgasm and for the record – I don’t even own the iPhone

  • Rsvalencia

    Apple sucks

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003150122710 Brandon Shea

      How very insightful.

  • comatoast

    I have Android phones/tablets and an iPad for work, and my wife has an iPhone/iPad. I agree with pretty much this whole post. The inability to change default apps infuriates me, as does the bizarre sharing setup. And the keyboard… fuck the ios keyboard. Swype FTW

    • Bariscale1888

      I started with an iPod Touch, and recently got an android phone because there’s not a good no contract option for iPhone (Hurry Up t-mobile! I’ll be your customer for life once you have an iPhone).  I hate Android’s keyboard. The key pitch is too small, and the auto-correct is terrible. The only thing it has going for it is the . is on the same screen an the alphabet. 

      Oh, and as far as the rest of the stuff in this article — It really depends on what version of android you have doesn’t it. Or whether or not your willing to side load apps. MY PHONE WILL NOT LET ME REMOVE ANY OF THE PRE-INSTALLED APPS! And there is no way for me to move the wireless on/off to the notification screen.  Many of the features this article talks about simply don’t exist.  

      Even worse, I can’t install many apps like chrome or google plus. They are not compatible with my version of android. At least with iOS, there is some backwards and forwards compatibility required to get in the walled garden.

      Bottom line. Android Vs iOS is like Chevy Vs Ford. They do the same thing. Ultimately it comes down to your taste and your preferences.  I love my iOS device. I get frustrated by my POS android daily (especially when the input craps out completely and the only way to get a letter on the screen is to reboot the whole phone, gah! ).

      One other thing — why would I want to download something to my phone? Save it to g-Drive, make it available offline.  Simple.  Then I don’t have to worry about burning out the 128 MB (Yes mega byte) of internal memory the crappy android phone has.  Sorry but I could go on for weeks about how horrible Android is.  And yes, it would persuade the “I’m too e stupid to make up my own mind” crowd just as much as this.

      • Villageidiotuk

        This is a stupid post. You’re comparing your obviously basic android phone that probably costs £60 off contract. Either that or you’re just spitting out stuff you’ve heard from years ago about android.

        Try comparing your Iphone to something like the Note2 or HTC One X or S3 and your Iphone will lose everytime. Also in price of contract too.

      • ELITECMDR666

        Said like a true ignorant crapple fanboy. Are you really that retarded comparing an iPod touch to your phone? So what if some app can’t be deleted when you get a icrap you will see that you won’t be able to delete some of apples apps so what are you going to complain about then?…don’t know what type of cheap crappy phone you have cause I have the Note 2 and I have plenty of memory…so yeah this was by far the most useless complaints I have heard…you really have no freaking idea what you stand for ( like most apple owners ) good luck with your iPod touch lol, and when IF you ever get an icrap let me know if you can delete there apps you don’t use…

        • Guest

          Yeah, making yourself look real smart there dude…

        • Smcotler

          Actually, Elite, you’re the one appearing pretty ignorant here. All an ipod touch is, essentially, is an iPhone without the phone. iOS function is identical on both. Apps are going to run the same on both. And Bariscale brings up a valid point, the disparity of experiences on Android devices. 

          Your Note 2 is running JB but has touchwiz laid on top of it, which I find to be absolutely awful. Stock JB is WAY more attractive IMO. And I’d bet Bariscale is running a VMo phone that’s stuck on 2.3.5 or something. Which is the life a huge portion of the android users live. Whole swathes of your fellow android legion are trapped in constantly wondering and waiting to see if their carriers are going to bother upgrading their phones. And I’m sure the response here will be they should all go load CM or some other ROM! Which, hey that’s great for those of us capable but that’s not a majority. :)  iOS offers an IT WORKS experience. Android is fantastic, when you can gut it and make it your own. This whole debate reeks of MS vs Linux :P One is infinitely more user friendly than the other. But the other is gorgeous and runs fantastically when you have the patience to learn it. 

          • Anon

            I had a phone running gingerbread and I still had the option to toggle wifi, Bluetooth, mobile data, airplane mode etc. (yes, there was more) right on the home screen. And as for the Ford vs Chevy analogy, don’t compare a Model T to a Corvette.

        • Inpulseone

          android rocks i have a g note and love it have upgraded to jellybean too, the thing with android is if i don’t like it i can change it untill i do like it, i can even make it do things i have never even thought of. put tasker in on the equation and the possibilities are endless android means freedom and creative inspiration. just wanted to add that was a great review.

        • Allanorvirani1

          God! I love how you burnt him. I hate people who compare the iPhone to android, it’s so obvious that iPhone lacks every damn thing that android has. I love you Android!

        • Ashleybeer95

          Shut up, asshole. The earlier versions of android are complete shit, and anything beneath jellybean is laggy as hell. I have a samsung galaxy tab, and the amount of reboots I do a day just to fix the hang-ups are incredible. I had an earlier android phone, too. It was horrible. The bottom line is, most people who buy android aren’t buying top of the line superphones like the note. Most are buying small, cheap, slow phones bloated with crapware. Bariscale is completely correct when he says both are pretty much the same. It’s so annoying to be reading an article and then see something like this in the comments.

      • Chrisw

        It sounds like you have a very old, or very cheap android phone. You need to get a high end android phone to really do a comparison.

      • BrandoHD

        If you hate the default keyboard, install one from the Play Store, that’s one of the beauties of using Android

        IF you buy a cheap T-Mobile device, with carrier restrictions, then you have one person to blame for those restrictions –> YOURSELF

        You can’t install apps because you are on a old version of Android, T-Mobile has the Nexus 4 on sale for $200 you have no excuses really because you claim you want an iPhone, if you can afford that if T-Mobile had it, then you can afford a better Android device

        You are right, it does come down to taste and preference, but in Android vs iOS, iOS is lagging behind on many fronts, so it’s starting to become more like BMW vs Chevy, more than Chevy vs Ford

        The input crapped out, you have a broken device, I really would like to give you the benefit of the doubt, but are you blaming an OS for an obvious hardware problem

        You said “why would I want to download something to my phone” <~~~~ Am I reading this correctly? If I am using my device and I am away from my PC, and there is something that I would like to download…….. do I need to say more?

        I ma sure you can go on for weeks about how horrible your Android is, but it will only take me a minute to cut through your BS, buy a better Android device, one that is comparable "hardware wise" with the iPhone you claim to want from T-Mobile, then you can come here and write a comment again, one that people would actually take seriously

        • Alacranalex

          I love iphone 5
          My wife. Love. Note 2.
          And we are both happy :-)

      • Brian Dortch

        sound like someone bought a crappy phone, trollolololol.

        but it was free at signing 

      • sehenc

        But what low end Android is it that you have? That only have 128 MB? And what old version of Android? I’ve been upgrading from 2.3 to 4.0 to 4.1 and during the last 1.5 years and have always had the WIFI direct shortcut from notification bar. (Just like GPS, Bluetooth, screen rotation). 
        You can’t be serious to compare a low-end budget Android and think it does the same as other Android phones with good spec’s and a modern Android version!

        Regarding keyboard – try Swype. The quickest and smothest text input system I’ve ever tested. Built into Samsung Galaxy SII and SIII but can be installed in other Androids and ather phones (not iOS – you thank Apple for that!)

        I gave iPod touch to my two little girls. It’s easy. I’d say it’s good for them. Not for adults.

        I also have Galaxy Tab tablet. You do a compare of the UI of iPad and new Android tablets and I would like to hear what UI you really think gives the best experience.

      • Nathaniel Roach

        Sounds like you bought a crap phone. I have an android tablet and phone EVERYTHING you complained about there is a non issue for me.

        • http://profiles.google.com/sasopu Saso Pusnik

          That is often a big problem, people pay big money for iPhones, and they work great. But those same people buy a budget Android device with an outdated version of the OS and then they compare those. iPhones were all flagship iOS models when they came to market, so it would be fair to compare them to the Android flagship phones of that time, to make a fair comparisson.
          That is how I look at it and I like both OSs. When I had the Desire, I compared it to my the iPhone 4, they were both very good. Same with the S2 and 4S and now the S3 and the 5.

      • Jdashx

        I think its right to assume this article pitches android and ios against each other with at least a 2 year old operating system. I was running gingerbread and still had these features. Further more, the features that i had 2 years ago have only now popped up in ios 5-6. Ios is archaic to say the least. Sure Apple pioneered the way we use phones today, but they’ve been left behind by improvements done by google, samsung etc. A new interface is soo needed in order for them to grab their crown back. Im truely routing for Apple, because at the end of the day competition benefits us all.

        Ps. What are you running? Android eclair?

      • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

        I’d like to know which android phone you have?

      • BaiKin

        “…MY PHONE WILL NOT LET ME REMOVE ANY OF THE PRE-INSTALLED APPS…” Same thing goes for Apple’s apps on your iPhone. You could say both OSes are even on this.

        “…I can’t install many apps like chrome or google plus…” This is only true for entry-level android phones, you should compare this to an iPhone 3g (3gs at most). Unless you have iOS 6, there are plenty of apps you can’t install on your iPhone. I do think there is more backwards compatibility on Android, though.
        “…why would I want to download something to my phone? Save it to g-Drive, make it available offline.  Simple.  Then I don’t have to worry about burning out the 128 MB…” Saving to g-Drive and making it available offline actually downloads the file to your phone. Also, 128 MB internal memory is again only applicable to entry-level phones, not comparable to an iPhone 5. It’s like comparing a Galaxy Note 2 to an iPhone 3g. 

        Remember, unexpensive Android phones are often low-specced. Think of a 300$ Netbook PC and a 1200$ Desktop PC. You can probably run Assassin’s Creed III on both, but it will be unusable on one while smooth on the other.

        Both platforms are great, but I find Android to be way more useful for the things I need, and my needs aren’t necessarily the same as yours.

      • sm23

        It looks like you decided to purchase a low-end Android phone. Which is equivalent to purchasing a 2008 iPhone in 2013. DON’T DO IT! Any half-decent Android will now be running 4.0, which allows you to deactivate any Google app (including Wallet, Browser, Books, G+, etc).
        And like the article writer mentioned, what makes Android great is being able to use a keyboard like Swype OR SwiftKey (although the 4.2 keyboard is friggin fantastic), make a browser like Dolphin OR Chrome default, and being able to share a pic with Twitter, Facebook, Snapseed, Instagram, OR Pinterest, all FROM THE GALLERY!

      • Tompottamkulam

        The biggest disadvantage of iOS is apps dont talk to each other and no back ground process and no real mulit tasking.If you get used to these in a high end Android device, then an apple phone is like a handicap .Period. The latest Android phones allow you to disable the stock android apps( not uninstall but disable) . You complained about the keyboard, thats the beauty of Android you can replace it with Swiftkey, Swype or any other key board that you like….Can you do that in Apple no. If you don’t like Google Maps( That was hypothetical )  you can disable it and install any maps you like. Can you do that in Apple . No. You are stuck with Apple maps as your default. You can download Google Maps in iOS but still crappy Apple Maps is your default. You cant change it. All these little things make you frustrated when you use iOS. Just the other day I borrowed my friends iPhone and was browsing using Safari, it was big web page and I wanted to find a word in the browser….. And there is no option of finding a word in a web page in the browser!!!!!!!!! Can you image that….. Then to change settings as was explained in the article you have easy toggles….. To have short cut to dial somebody….This are all small little things that makes your life easier ….

      • Guest

        128MB of internal storage? How old or low end of an android did you get? And he wasn’t saying you could remove preloaded apps, but rather put them in a folder or hide them. If you spent as much on an android as you did your iPhone you’d probably have a much better Android experience

      • Vrfrank12

        The only explanation of your absurd comment is that you have no clue of what’s being said here, or have no knowledge of the android system and the hi end products available for it. This comment you wrote is laughable and belittles you. Anyway, I I agree with the article because I had an I phone 3gs 32 gigs and an iphone 4 before I became an android user and I had the same experience with it. After owning several phones from Htc, and galaxy s2, s3 and now being the proud owner of the best phone the world has seen so far, the galaxy note 2, I wouldn’t dream of going back to apple’s lamephone5. But for some idiot’s, I’m sorry I meant people, owning an iphone gives them a sense of superiority, a status, because it has become a cult, a senseless religion, defending somthing blindly with no facts or good reason. I look down to these “apple lovers, fanatics”. I think this was a good article based on facts and truth, good job!

      • Joshuwa5088

        Uh…if your android phone has a 125MB memory then you probably need to upgrade. Second, comparing a 125 MB device to a higher end device is hardly fair

      • mola2alex

        You can download another keyboard, which is what the author stated, try swift key. Not something possible on iOS. Android you can replace almost every component, for example the launcher. Why would you want to download a file to your phone? There is a whole host of reasons, maybe I want to download an album or someone sent me an mp3 of a song. What if it was zipped? On Android you can unzip, click it and a bunch of installed apps that can play mp3s pop up allowing you to listen. Why do iOS users act like jumping through hoops is cool?

      • RyanD

        Hi Bariscale1888. No offense, but it sounds like you have a really low-grade android phone. It was probably one of the free ones, right? What phone do you have? The pre-installed apps on your android phone are most likely from your carrier. With Android’s ICS operating system, there is a way to disable the pre-installed apps from your phone. If you can’t install Chrome or Google+ and you only have 128 MB of internal storage then you must have an outdated Android phone. The cool thing about Android phones is that you have the option of purchasing a phone that caters specifically to your needs. If you don’t want to use your phone for anything, but basic operations then go with a low-grade android phone. If you want the best or the latest and greatest, go with the top of the line Android phone. There are many types to choose from, but you can’t expect the cheapest and free phones to work like the upgraded phones. 

      • Tobias Kerst

        I don’t agree with you.
        I believe, that you should compare an iPhone 5 with the Nexus 4. That’s how those companies see their phones.
        128MB of internal memory is very outdated and the new interface looks just great. All the things mentioned in this post are true, you only have to weight their importance and your usage. Pre-installed apps are crap, I own a Galaxy Tab 10.1 and I WANT TO DELETE THE FUCKING SAMSUNG APPS!
        The new keyboard for Android 4.2 is awesome, the only thing I’m mssing is the powerful and great looking lens, when you select or correct texts, you’ve written. But once get used to swiping your text, you will never want to get back. I disliked my Samsung keyboard and installed another keyboard… This is great, but will never be implemented into iOS, because it’s just not Apple’s way of doing things.
        The notifications on iOS are horrible, you’ve got to admit that.
        And don’t tell me about compatibility. I own a 2nd gen iPod touch, and NO App would work with it. I tried to install about 20 apps, and literally none would install, because my device is outdated. This is really annoying, but I like the iPod slim form factor and will use it, until it breaks.
        But like the author said, once you get used to Android, you will be unsatisfied with you iPhone, because of all the things you can do with your Android device.

        And I want to add. The share function in Android is about the best, I’ve ever seen. It’s so easy to share a webpage to Google+ or even better pocket.. So you can read it later, while you might be offline. You can share anything with compatible apps, and since this is so basic, almost any app will include such functionality.
        I can understand, why Apple limited the background processes to run for about 10 minutes, or so. It won’t eat up your battery, but installing an alarm app doesn’t make any sense, because it won’t be able to run in the background, whilst you are sleeping. This, like syncing and stuff, is the advantage of Android, that many iOS users don’t and can’t appreciate, because they never got to use it.
        I believe, that iOS 7 will implement some of the functions, I’ve mentioned in this comment, because it really IS outdated.. But I hoped for it with iOS 6… And iOS 5.

        After all iOS is still neat, because it’s simple. Many users don’t CARE. But imo they wouldn’t need such an expensive device.. They’d be happy with a regular phone, they most likely don’t need a SMARTphone.

        I hope, that I didn’t upset any person with this comment, I tried to keep it as open minded, as I could be. And I hope that my English was comprehensive enough, as I’m German and I might’ve messed up a few sentences.

        • Russ

          Whilst you can’t delete the default Samsung apps (due to them being on a read-only portion of the NAND, you can disable them (which is the same as uninstalling them, for all intents and purposes).

      • Fouad

        Talking about compatibility , two days ago i tried installing google plus on my friend iphone 3g guess what?
        Its telling me this app is not compatible with IOS5, so whats the deal….

      • Matt Sokolinski

        OMG you bought a cheap android phone and you expect it to be compared to iphone?
        120mb internal memory is a rather budget like android runing 2.2 tops.
        I’m assuming you live in USA. Instead of waiting for your beloved iphone on contract (tmobile) get nexus4 for $300 (iphone will cost that subsidised) and pay your $30/month . And than complain about the device + contract you have

      • http://www.facebook.com/mcnovy Sean Nielsen

        Yes, Basically you can ramble on for ages about how bad your phone is,
        but.. it sounds like you have bought a cheap (low-end) Android phone.

        The thing about android is that only the Nexus devices are true Android,
        Other phones is just using the core of Android, but the interface is different.
        HTC uses Sense, Samsung uses Touchwiz and so on.
        So if you bought [insert phone here], then chances are, that trying a Samsung, or HTC or 3′rd phone, will leave you with a completely different verdict.

        And BTW.. this is android..
        if you don’t like the keyboard.. install another one.
        if you don’t like the interface.. install another one, and so on.

  • Gil Maman

    Very good article
    I speak a lot against apple IOs in varoius articles but i think im gonna stop cause its no longer relevant

  • John Ward

    Let’s put the cards on the table – I’m an iPhone user and as much as you put out quite a few valid flaws of iPhone which I would agree with, I wouldn’t castrate it in the way you did. Here’s where I think you went wrong.

    1) Disabling Wifi / Bluetooth easily – I would have agreed going back to my iPod Touch 2G a long time ago. The battery wasn’t impressive and I could feel the burn, but with my slightly antiquated iPhone 4 I have decided to NEVER touch these options ever again. I agree with the other poster here, these are options that should NOT be at the fore front of your everyday interaction with the phone. They are part of internal systems that, of course, tech people love to mess with. Brag somewhere else that you once made your device go for 5 days on a single charge – the only one impressed is you. The rest of us charge. Having to toggle it on and off everytime I walk into or out of that cafe, come on, talk about a device that’s simple to use.

    2) Screen size – the screen size on your average iPhone is about 8% to 10% less than a comparable “large” Android – that means it’s arguably 8% to 10% worse to take a picture on iPhone than an average “large” Android. That’s completely ignoring factors such as screen quality, pixel density, colour reproduction. So is the following really due: “There is no point having a good camera when you can barely see anything you take as the screen is so small”. Are we talking Tamagotchi small here, or a full 3.5″? Most Androids are the EXACT same size.

    3) Scrolling! Holy crap, you’re sugesting that Android does better scrolling than an iPhone – it’s the opposite my friend. It’s Android that’s unpredictable, laggy and annoying.

    4) UI – My friend, you would still be laughed at for saying what you said. The only place I saw nice Android was on HTC. There’s a bit of thought and design gone into their “design”. Samsung’s are horrible, everything feels like bland, banal 2D. App design is shockingly poor around Android. It feels like Windows back in the 98 days. The home screens are complex and so information heavy – so information heavy that it’s no longer useful! It’s just too much in one place. 

    You miss out on something in the Apple design, the simplicity is a yearned for human factor that tech people find SO hard to understand. I mean a bash shell could get a nuke hurtingly towards any major city, it could back up 50 servers with a small script. But there is not WAY I would want it for everyday use. There is NO WAY my mother could comprehend what to do with it. Less is more in so many ways.

  • http://twitter.com/PCFPShero Your Pro

    Wow. Whine whine whine. Most of what you stated can be taken care of by taking the time to actually set up the device. I download attachments every day to mail. I can open and share to Dropbox. Open with Numbers or Keynote…  I don’t have the issues with notification center and I think Android’s is a total clusterfuck. If you’re having issues with scrolling, you may need to have your thumb looked at. I’ve never seen a single person complain about this. Ever. You’re grasping at straws. 

    How’s that malware treating you? 

    • Jesus H C

      Lol Rage much? Calm down cowgirl.

  • philnolan3d

    I had a 1st gen iphone before switching to Android. The only thing I miss is the way you place the cursor for typing I’ve always found it to be a real pain in Android out of three Android devices that I’ve owned. It never seems to go where I want it on the first one or even three tries. Otherwise I love every thing about Android far above the iphone. 

  • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

    I replied to your post above Brandon, be interested to hear your response! 

    Thanks!

  • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

    We’re not all like this :P

  • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

    Hey! I did state they were my opinions, I know not everyone will agree with me, nor would I want that! We are each individual :P

    The sharing issues are big issues though, especially when compared to how android does it, ios lacks badly in this respect.

    Hey, the malware comment wasn’t needed, it cheapens the rest of your comment when you actually make good points!

  • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

    1. Read up on reviews of the Note II, best battery on a phone bar none.

    2. Equivalent android phones are 4.3″+, but I admit screen size is one of the more subjective points I made. Personally, I love the larger screens, but I won’t argue here, screen size is definitely a personal choice! (But, at lease android users have the choice!)

    3. I am, I really dislike the stuttery scrolling on the iPhone.

    4. No, you’re truly wrong. HTC are struggling now because no one likes the UI they place upon android. Android 4.0 is beautiful, and you’ll see the same said on all tech blogs.

  • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

    Thanks for your comment! Its nice when someone appreciates my feelings towards it, whilst not necessarily agreeing with them, I can respect that!

  • http://androidaction.tumblr.com/ Matthew S

    This guy should rule the world.

    • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

      :P

  • Richard Blumberg

    I’ve been an Apple fanboy since 1985; I’ve probably owned 30 Macs myself, and when I left the ad agency  I’d co-founded, all the way back in 1991, we had 75 Macs networked. It has been a great platform. And I got the first iPhone when it came out, and one for my wife, and we’re on iPhone 5 now and generally love it. But I’m typing this on a Samsung Chromebook (my MacBook Air is upstairs working as a desktop machine), and my iPad is mostly limited to reading and watching video in bed these days; I carry the Nexus 7 with me in a coat pocket. And my next phone will almost certainly be an Android device unless Apple pulls some mighty attractive rabbit out of its hat.

    Rachid’s laundry list is biased, to be sure, for reasons he admits. But having used the Nexus 7, I’ll give him the majority of the points he makes. Google is making huge strides in design, usability, and interoperability, and Google’s ecosystem just feels like a more serious place to me these days than Apple’s, one where I can generally work more easily and productively. 

    Thanks, Rachid, for giving the iPhone a serious workout, and for a thoughtful, well-written post.

    • http://twitter.com/markrlangston Mark Langston

      Interesting. I think I’d miss all the synergy in Apple’s ecosystem to move to a Chromebook. Notification Center, Reminders, Notes as well as all the little things about Mac that make it (in my opinion) a more useful environment to work in.

      Like the trackpad gestures. Two-finger back and forth navigation in Safari, Spaces to organize the applications I’m working in and Exposé to see multiple windows of an open application, the ability to hold down the letter ‘e’ to make that accented ‘e’ in the word Exposé or café or resumé, QuickLook so I can view a file (including movies and music) without having to open an application, Spotlight with QuickLook, using Spotlight as a calculator, using Spotlight as a dictionary, (and speaking of which) the three-finger gesture (in most native apps) to bring up the dictionary (as it is in iOS), Full-Screen so I can focus on one app, Mission Control so I can see all of my open applications, Version Control to see a document in earlier states and reverting back, Resume for when I have to shut down/restart but want all of my open apps and even placement of palettes to be restored, Reader in Safari, Tabs in the Cloud so I can see what I was browsing on my iPhone and/or iPad; I could go on but I’ll stop there.

      Not sure what you mean by Google’s ecosystem being a more “serious” place than Apple. At this point they’re all offering the same thing. Movies, music, TV shows, apps; are you referring to the presentation of the content? I just can’t make heads or tails of that comment.

      Then there’s Photo Stream which shares my photos across all my iDevices, having apps and other content automatically download from one device to the next and having all that information synced and backed-up automatically to iTunes when you’re on WIFI and charging the device. 

      I don’t begrudge you for choosing Nexus over the Apple and glad that you found something you like but, similar to the original post, some of the excuses/reasons sound like fluff. 

      Like I said in my response, there’s no perfect system and anyone looking for perfection is running a fool’s errand. I just feel that the OS X/iOS workflow can’t be matched when you compare everything Apple’s doing, which isn’t solely wrapped up in a phone. That’s the big puzzle piece missing here. There’s more to Apple’s overall scheme than just the iPhone and I think people are missing that. 

    • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

      Thanks for your reply Richard, and for seeing the point of my post! 

  • Leonid Bushuev

    One addition thing: iPhone has no the ‘back’ button. Each application place its own back icon/button in its own corner of the screen. Each time I need to return back I have to solve a quest how to do it

  • Jon Walker

    I have been using an Android smart phone for the past 18 months and the thing I hate most about it is that it’s so slow and klunky.  I really don’t think that’s the OS’s fault as I purchased a mid range phone.  However, had I been told that the low end phone doesn’t do a very good job with Android, I probably would have bought somehting a bit more expensive so that I could actually stand to use the bloody thing.  As it is, when asked, I tell people I have the dumbest smartphone on the market.

    That said, yes, you are correct on much of what you say and power OS users may not care for the iPhone.  However, the Apple envrionment wasn’t made for power OS users.  It was made to allow everyday people to use their system from the moment they turned it on.  It took me, perhaps, 5 minutes to learn the basics and a day or two to master most functions.

    The Android system?  Countless web seraches and well over a week to learn all of the in and outs for functionality.  The keyboard sucks and I’m not interested in learning to swipe like I owned a Palm pilot.  The phone seems to decide when it will receive a text message, and my screen is absolutely micro sized.  I’m sure if I spend $600 on an Android phone, I’d be a lot happier, but why would I spend that kind of money and not get an iPhone?  That said, if I wanted to create any kind of device that could be controlled by a smart phone or want to build an app the maximum speed and flexibility, I would automatically go to Android.

    So in a nutshell, they are different ecosystems for different types of people and uses.  Android will always have a much larger user base as it’s “supposed” to work on nearly any type of phone and is essencially a free OS so it can run on any POS handset.  Apple will always have a huge following because it’s easy to use, is consistent and “just works”.

    • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

      What phone are you using?

    • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

      Thanks for your comments (and edit!) Jon!

  • Mathieu

    iOS users are the firsts to complain that it’s hard to switch to Android because it’s … “different”.
    But switching from Android to iOS is actually worst because users have to forget about features and customization that they were taking for granted.

  • David Sanders

    From my experience with Iphone and Android is iphone don’t have that many surprises and is basic friendly.

  • http://twitter.com/Aleis Jayrock

    It feels like you are picking on apple at this point…BULLY! lol!

    • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

      Who, me? :P

  • Jeroen van der Maat

    The same holds true for the iPhone. I can’t use Siri on my brand new iPhone 4. You can’t use Chrome on your Android.

    As far as the keyboard, it depends on what keyboard you have. My Droid X came with Swype, and while I liked swyping, the autocorrect was horrible (to me. Others swear by it). I prefer SlideIt for keyboard. Allows you to resize the keyboard as well, so it matches what you want. Android allows you to fix your keyboard issues, no rooting necessary.

    Android also does not force the preloaded (carrier specific) apps on the home screens. And often they can be hidden from the app drawer as well. So they are not in the way once you’ve configured that. Give it a try.

    You finish stating you can save something to GDrive. But that’s not allowed on iPhone. Safari doesn’t allow you to send a file to GDrive. So the problem remains. How do you get a file downloaded and onto GDrive?

    And I’m sorry you cheaped out and got a free phone with only 128Mb. Of course it will be inferior to an iPhone with 8Gb. Try to compare apples to apples and get an Android phone of similar caliber as the iPhone you were used to. Most phones have at least 8Gb memory, and many allow you to add MicroSD storage (another thing Apple fails horribly at. But can’t say this is 100% fixed in Android, as not all Android phones have it. But at least we have the choice to pick a phone with memory expansion capabilities (or battery swap capabilities!))

  • http://twitter.com/markrlangston Mark Langston

    Let me first say that there is no perfect system, only what’s right for you based on your individual preferences. With that said, some of your so-called complaints are insanely unfounded and unnecessary.

    1 + 2: As an avid iPhone/iPad/MacBook Pro user I’ll be the first to admit that having a quick shortcut to WIFI would be incredibly helpful and I can only hope that one day Apple adds this feature. They kindly “borrowed” Notification Center from Android. They might as well finish the job and put Bluetooth, WIFI and Airplane mode in there too. Secondly, yes, many background tasks are cut off but I’ve never had issues with Dropbox syncing the Camera Roll so I’m not sure why that’s a problem for you (could be coverage/carrier related).

    3: So you complain that “some” apps can be moved into Folders but you only mention one. It just so happens that Newsstand IS a Folder and the magazines/newspapers it holds are individual apps. Every other app on the iPhone CAN be moved into a Folder.

    4: You provided no examples of apps that show up that aren’t installed that show up as sharing options. Probably because there’s no such thing. Again, I’ll concede that app sharing should be more extensive but most of the popular choices are there. Everything else you want to share information too is usually handled in the app you’re working with anyway. For example, Instagram. If you plan to make filter changes in Instagram you’re probably going to open Instagram anyway. The workflow you describe means opening the Photo app first, then sharing, which launches Instagram. Why not just open Instagram, click on the photo album app and import the photo?

    5: Regarding settings, this isn’t entirely accurate. Yes, some settings have to be changed within Settings but that doesn’t apply to EVERY app on the phone with most of the important setting changes being accessible from the app itself.

    6: Not able to download an app over 50MB is likely Apple’s lack of confidence in carriers’ ability to sustain a decent connection to the internet. Besides, other than games most every other app is far below 50MB. And with so many stores/malls/diners offering WIFI this isn’t that big of an issue.

    7: You’re dead wrong about notifications. They are grouped together based on the app and unless you clear the notification you’ll always know what your last notification for that app was for since it’s grouped based on the most recent (e.g. “5m ago”, “1h ago”, etc). I’ll agree clearing them is a chore and I hope it’s something Apple addresses in the future.

    8: Any time you switch keyboards it’s gonna be tough. Can’t help you there. Doesn’t mean the keyboard sucks or makes the phone unusable. It just means you prefer the keyboard on Android. Our receptionist uses a trackball and no matter how many times I help her out with things I’m still not comfortable. 

    9: You’re saying “most apps” don’t let you zoom but, again, don’t offer any examples. If you’re referring to mobile websites like CNN or Engadget or apps like Facebook, Google Plus and others then you’d be right but that’s not Apple’s fault. Blame the app maker or website for relegating the content to a specific screen size.

    10: I won’t argue this point because it’s clear that one of the Android’s main features is being able to change the OS as you see fit so yes, I concede that the browser defaulting to Safari may be an obstacle for some but copying & pasting a link is pretty simple so that you can paste that link into Chrome. Not it’s not elegant but it’s doable. 

    11: Again, I’ll concede that iOS is starting to show its age but if it ain’t broke… Do I wish Apple would update the interface? Sure I do. But I’m still happy with the current look and operation of the OS so, again based on preference, I think it’s fine. And all the millions of people still buying iPhones and iPads would appear to feel the same way.

    12: Not sure why your panties are in a bunch over scrolling. Seems fast enough for me. Plus there’s the ability to press the time in the top bar that will send you flying back to the top with a single tap.

    13: Depending on the app you’re using you’ll either download the file or share it to an app that can handle the file type. And it’s way more than four places you can share/save content to.

    14: In conclusion your arguments (for the most part) don’t make for a phone that’s unusable. Just not something you like. I would also argue that using an iPhone 5, with the larger screen size, makes a difference. Even I have a hard time with the iPhone 4/4S’ size after getting an iPhone 5 but I still prefer iOS over Android.

    I’m not saying Android is bad, just the contrary, but that most of your arguments seemed to be spawned from getting comfortable with another OS so you’re so-called “open mind” was looking for things to hate. Be honest, you never wanted to use the iPhone so you nit-picked your way through it and found excuses to dislike it. 

    • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

      1/2: I didn’t have a problem syncing with the app open, but I needed to open it first. This is ios related, not my network!

      3: Newstand is a folder? Come on now, thats just skirting the point. If you want to put it that way, then newsstand should not be a folder. 

      4: The most popular choices are not there, e.g Instagram.

      5: So some do, some don’t? Isn’t this an even worse situation? Settings are spread all over the place?

      6: Don’t skirt the issue or make excuses. Half the country even has access to LTE now… And that is improving all the time. 

      7: I meant that you have to open the bar to see notifications.

      8: I gave examples of why it’s not as good, I think they stand above my personal preference.

      9: You can’t zoom in on most apps. For example a todo list is one. This is purely a screen size issue, and again may be more subjective, but its a fact that there is less screen there…

      10: Doable.. most things are doable… That isn’t really the point i was making though.

      11: Its about staying still, and not imporving and moving forward. Like you even agree, its showing its age. Apple needs to look at this.

      12: This one is personal preference :P

      13: I think you’re missing the main point, and again making excuses the limitations.

      14: It is unusable for me, especially after understanding what android can do. But not unusable for everyone, no way.

      I think I did back up a lot of what i said (apart from the obvious, like the scrolling) with actual facts though. 

      But thanks for taking the time to comment so thoroughly, it’s appreciated :)

      • http://twitter.com/markrlangston Mark Langston

        Folders: I’m not “skirting the point” of Newsstand. Get over yourself, it’s a folder for apps and those apps just happen to be magazines or newspapers. If you don’t like it, like another commenter said, move it to the last screen of the phone (along with Stocks, the Compass and others) and forget it’s there. And again, you said “some” apps can’t go into Folders. Some is more than one so name more apps that can’t be placed into a folder. I would also contend that “some” is more than 2 or 3 as that would be more in line with “a couple” or “a few”. The word “some” is synonymous with “many” or “several”. So unless you can name several apps that can’t be placed into folders your point about Folders is null and void. 

        Age of UI: The fact that Apple had one of the biggest quarters of any company on the planet, the fact that the majority of phones that both AT&T and Verizon sold were iPhones and the fact that they have 51% of US market share is likely not a motivating factor for Apple to reinvent iOS. Although it could use a new coat of paint I like the way iOS looks/works right now and, again, millions and millions of people would agree.

        Notifications: You have to “open the bar to see the notifications”?! You mean like opening the window shade in Android to see your notifications? Yeah, works the same way. You do remember that iOS has had notification badges since day one, right? 

        Instagram: Again, you’re splitting hairs but I see your point. Let’s say you have a picture on the web that you want to save into Instagram. I assume on Android you could long-press on the picture then select Instagram then save it to another app/location. Okay, I’ll give you that. Then again I like the idea of saving the original to my Camera Roll (where it’ll also automatically back-up to my Photo Stream) then bringing it into Instagram later. At least I know I’ll always have the original. Your workflow is different than my workflow. Far from a deal-breaker.

        File Storage/Sharing: I just had this conversation earlier today and here’s my take on saving documents directly to the phone, treating it like a standard OS, and when you’re storing your documents directly into an app: the difference, I believe, is that Apple doesn’t want the average consumer to deal with a file structure. They get enough of that in Windows or OS X. Instead you’re working through apps so rather than fish around in directories looking for your file(s) it’s better to just use the app. Have you seen most people’s desktops?! They’re filled with files that aren’t properly named and they have folders and crap files that they’ll never need again but don’t erase because they’re too busy downloading more files. 

        I could write a small novel in here but instead I’ll agree with others here that see your reasons for not liking an iPhone as slightly trivial and lacking in substance. 

        • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

          Folders
          You are skirting the point. If magazines are folders, let me place them were I like. I can put them in a “news” folder myself. Or, I might like to put them in a “Sports magazines” and a “Cookery Magazines” folder? Don’t keep making excuses for Apple.

          UI
          The world doesn’t consist of the USA. Take al ook at worldwide usage figures then get back to me! But anyway, you basically agree with me on this point, so not sure why you’re arguing over this one exactly..

          Notifications
          I don’t have to open the android notification windows to see my notifications. I do have to on ios. Not sure what your argumenti s here?

          Instagram
          Instagram was an example of show advanced the sharign feature of android is, compared to ios. On ios you can only share things to those apps the developer has coded into the app. The android system is much better. I honestly don’t see how you can argue they are on par, they are most certainly not. Even the hardest iPhone fan will agree with me on this one.

          File Storage
          Thats fine then, but it goes back to one of my later points. Apple thinks it knows best for every one. But it doesn’t. I want to keep things stored on my phone. For example, when I travel I sometimes need things offline. Storage to my device works fantastic in this situation. 

          The whole point of my article is why, after using android, these small and trivila things are important to me. I took them for granted, because as you say, they are small and trivial items. But when you don’t have access to them, you realise how much you depended on them.

          • http://twitter.com/markrlangston Mark Langston

            Folders : So your argument is that Apple helping you to keep like content (magazines and newspapers) in an organized and easy fashion is a violently horrible, Stalin-esque commandment? Why you feel that this is a point of contention that somehow speaks to how awful iOS is boggles the mind.  

            UI : We’re basically saying the same thing here. I like the UI and feel that does need a refresh but it’s far from unusable. 

            Notifications : As I mentioned, app badges show you that new information is waiting. And in the case of Facebook you’re guided to exactly where those updates are made (likes, message updates, post updates, friend requests). App badges have been around since the first iPhone. When they added Notification Center, something that’s available across all Apple platforms — something no one else can make claim to (yet) — it just made things easier. 

            Instagram : Again, you’re arguing workflows but just like the Newsstand “folder” anything that’s more than 2 clicks is like asking for a kidney. 

            File Storage : Once again, we’re arguing workflows. One OS would rather assist with certain workflows while the other gives you more flexibility. But this also lends itself to creating more problems unless you’re someone that has a good handle on file management. The average consumer has horrible document/content management skills and have no idea where stuff is, what it was named or how to find it.

            It’s becoming clear with each reply that your arguments against iOS are mostly unfounded or come from someone with very little knowledge or tolerance for iOS. I was under the impression that Android users were more savvy because of all the customization options of the OS so moving over to iOS should be a simple affair since most of the heavy lifting is already done for you (i.e. organizing your magazines and newspapers).

            But I think the moral of the story is that iOS is just too hard for you to understand/grasp. Either that or you’re so stuck on Android and regimented in their ecosystem and workflow that you can’t open your mind and to anything else. 

            I think that’s it. You’re and Android zealot in the same way that many people are infatuated with Apple. “Hey, kettle!” “What’s up pot?”

          • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

            Folders
            Not violently horrible. But they make very big assumptions about how /i use the phone. And they DO NOT let you do any differently. There is helping, and then there is forcing. This one falls very much into the latter. Its something that radiates throughout the whole operationg system. “Our way, like it or lump it”.

            UI
            Agreed. Obviously the phone isn’t “impossible” for me to use, I think you might me taking my title too literally here.

            Notifications
            App badges are not a suitable replacement for notifications, they are in fact a totally different and separate feature, not sure why you keep referring to them as an excuse for the notification system.

            Instagram
            Workflows? I am definitely arguing workflows. That is the whole point. The workflow on android is way more streamlined than on ios. So workflows? That’s exactly what I’m talking about. And again, like the newsstand thing, you’re making excuses for Apple rather than takign a step back and actually realising it could be better.

            File Storage
            Worksflows are exactly what you do on a phone, you use consists of workflows, why should these not be cared for? Android lets you define your own workflow. Apple makes you use their workflow, this is the difference, and is exactly point I’m trying to make, that you seem to be missing.

            None of my replies are unfonded, I’ve explained everything to you clearly and concisely. Again, here you obviously make reference to my title and the word “impossible”. Please do not take this literally. It was used to make a point.

            The moral of the story is not that ios is too hard for me to grasp, that seems to be something you’d like to think is true so you can carry on thinking that Apple has no issues perhaps?

            If you read my last paragraph in the article, I actually say there are many things android can learn from ios. So how does it make me a fanboy, or a zealot, as you keep suggesting I am? 

            I’d likle to propose that in fact you are the fanboy, the zealot. As I am fully acknowledging that android has flaws, that android can learn things from ios. But you? You simply keep stating that things “don’t matter”, and maknig absurd excuses for the lack of features ios has.

  • Jeroen van der Maat

    The same holds true for the iPhone. I can’t use Siri on my brand new iPhone 4. You can’t use Chrome on your Android.

    As far as the keyboard, it depends on what keyboard you have. My Droid X came with Swype, and while I liked swyping, the autocorrect was horrible (to me. Others swear by it). I prefer SlideIt for keyboard. Allows you to resize the keyboard as well, so it matches what you want. Android allows you to fix your keyboard issues, no rooting necessary.

    Android also does not force the preloaded (carrier specific) apps on the home screens. And often they can be hidden from the app drawer as well. So they are not in the way once you’ve configured that. Give it a try.

    You finish stating you can save something to GDrive. But that’s not allowed on iPhone. Safari doesn’t allow you to send a file to GDrive. So the problem remains. How do you get a file downloaded and onto GDrive?

    And I’m sorry you cheaped out and got a free phone with only 128Mb. Of course it will be inferior to an iPhone with 8Gb. Try to compare apples to apples and get an Android phone of similar caliber as the iPhone you were used to. Most phones have at least 8Gb memory, and many allow you to add MicroSD storage (another thing Apple fails horribly at. But can’t say this is 100% fixed in Android, as not all Android phones have it. But at least we have the choice to pick a phone with memory expansion capabilities (or battery swap capabilities!))

  • Mike Corbett

    I loved reading this, but when the iPhanboys read this they are going to ream you! haha, good read, I always forget that they don’t have app sharing like android does

  • http://profiles.google.com/playingwithplato Patrick Perez

    DropBox? Dude, sync your photos to G+. Buy yourself a bigger chunk of online storage from them if you want to upload bigger collections of photos. But you are right, Androids file sharing and file management (folders) system is functionally superior to iPhone. By a lot. You Like Swiftkey? I much prefer Swype, what do you think of that UI?

    • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

      I prefer to ttype with two fingers really, but the new SwiftKey has Flow (same feature as swype), so I can get the best of both worlds! Have you tried swiftkey flow yet?

  • Mike Corbett

    After using Android a lot of users will see what the differences are. 

  • Mike Corbett

    oooh no, the keyboards on android, all OF THEM, are sweet

  • Andy

    I’ve owned both. I’ve liked both. Most of your reasons for disliking the phone are just horrible. Even if the screen were too small, which it is not for a lot of people, having high quality images is awesome. Most of the photos I take end up on a website. Cameras on phones are not just made to look at the pictures you take on your phone, smart guy. terrible article.

    • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

      The screen size is obviously my personal preference. I admit that.. Android phones come in smaller sizes than the iPhone too remember. 

      Be interesting to hear your comments on the other aspects of the article though, especially the terrible bits!

  • Alex

    lol… Man you obviously lack knowledge… But I don’t think you should blame it on the OS!

  • http://www.bytenow.net Andy G

    I really, really hate you.

  • http://www.standingmist.com ikari7789

    While some of your “complaints” are valid, most are two sides of the same coin. While Android allows more customization and flexibility of applications (i.e. sharing between apps and better background running), iOS allows a certain level of security, which, last I recall, iOS has little to no malware-type applications, yet they seem to be running amuck on Android. This is largely due to the fact that Android applications are so “friendly” with each other.

    As for your complaint about having to click “twice” to remove notifactions, that is an extremely common practice for deleting in ANY user interface. Click once to decide, then once for confirmation. Deal with it.

    And for scrolling… Are you insane? Scrolling is, and always has been, smoother than Android’s until perhaps Jelly Bean…

    • Anthony Maciel

      Malware? Really? Falling back on that old Apple-ism? I’ve never once had any issue with malware. Ever. It isn’t like apps can mysteriously install themselves on my phone. I have to explicitly install them. And guess what, when I do, I approve exactly what that app can and cannot do on my phone. If I see an app accesses my Contacts and it shouldn’t? I don’t install it. No way for the app to do so without me knowing it is going to. On iOS you have to trust the developer to only do what they say they will in the app description, and the Apple review process to catch it any time they don’t do that. In the past it has been proven that cannot be assumed.

      As an example, the Path app on iOS got into hot water when they decided to upload entire contact lists from iPhones to their servers. Sure, the app went through Apple’s approval process, but they either didn’t check for that, or they missed it. Path didn’t have nefarious intents with the data, but they had the data nonetheless without you knowing it. A malicious app could just as easily do the same if you install it. The only way that fact got out is because someone connected their phone to a logging proxy and inspected the data it transmitted. (Details here: http://mclov.in/2012/02/08/path-uploads-your-entire-address-book-to-their-servers.html)

      And as another example to the ineffectiveness of Apple’s review process, recall the flashlight app that enabled internet tethering. The app on the surface was just one of a hundred flashlight apps that got submitted to the App Store, but through a certain series of screen presses would access hidden APIs to enable the tethering. Again, not malicious, but very clear evidence that this review process that Apple fans tout as key to their security is obviously flawed. And as soon as Apple got wind of the exposed functionality, they immediately pulled the app, proving they were clueless to that fact beforehand. (Details here: http://www.iphonehacks.com/2010/07/flashlight-app-brings-unofficial-tethering-to-the-iphone-might-be-removed-from-the-app-store-soon.html)

      And how do you figure that, even if it existed, the ‘malware problem’ is due to app’s ‘friendliness’ toward one another? Every app in Android is sandboxed from each other, and they run as separate linux user accounts. The only communication between apps happens through exposed interfaces proxied through Android’s subsystems. My app cannot access data from another app unless that app explicitly exposes an interface for the data, and even then the access can be restricted and authenticated. So my app gets to choose how ‘friendly’ it wants to be. And in the case of default apps and sharing to other apps, that is entirely through the Android system. My app can say ‘hey, I can handle this type of content’ or ‘I can share text and pictures to others’ and Android handles everything else. If my app gets chosen to do something, Android launches my app and passes in the parameters. No attack vector with the supposed ‘friendliness’.

      Notifications: tap twice is nice for deleting, but are you really deleting anything when you dismiss the notification? That’s the whole point of a notification. It isn’t a primary content store. You get a chat message, and the notification shows up there. You can tap the notification to load the app and go straight to that context, or you can dismiss it and come back to it later. No matter what you do, all the data is there for you within the app itself, and new unread content is almost always highlighted immediately when you go into the app. Sure, if you accidentally tap the dismiss button it might be an inconvenience, but not as much as constantly having to double tap would be the 99% of the time when you actually do want to dismiss them.

    • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

      The security argument is old, and mainly FUD. Each android app runs inside its own sandbox, they are safe. The sharing feature allows one app to share only what it wants to share with others, nothing more, nothing less.

      I don’t want to deal pressing twice. I shouldn’t need to. Swiping them away is much more convenient!

  • Teazgood

    I have work iPhone as well, I finally found its real target. Had a 4 year old and a two year old to look after. Once Id run out of energy I gave the 4 year old my iPhone and the 2 year old my iPad. We had silence for nearly an hour. So I guess thats the real target.

    • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

      hehe :P

  • sdeban

    So don’t use it. Easy. 

  • Adrian Barrios

    Honestly, I think it’s the fact that you have to get used to everything on the iPhone. To first time iPhone users, it seems like a magnificent product, but then if you transfer over to an Android, you suddenly realize that iPhone is nothing compared to Android or to even the Galaxy. iPhone users love the phone because it’s a mini computer at your hand. But the Android is a mini everything at the palm of your hand. Android is simply better, you just have to get used to it. 

  • http://shurcool.myopenid.com/ Dmitri

    The key point is these items are personal. Not everyone would benefit from the things you’ve listed. In fact, a minority (tech savvy people) would benefit, while the majority (your parents and grandparents, and most people who can barely use email as is) would only be worse off if you give them Background Process Management and so on.

    Also, you missed some of the more advanced tricks on iOS that negate some points.
    But other than that, you mention some good points. I hope Apple can figure out a user friendly way to bring some of those things to the general public.

    • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

      Thanks for the comment Dmitri. I’d argue against the belief that android and multitasking is only for the tech savvy though. I think that belief is old and out of date. Remember that worldwide there are many more android phones than iPhones, there can’t be that many tech savvy people right? :P

  • Jason

    I for one much prefer seeing “Twitter new interactions” in my Android notification bar.

  • https://plus.google.com/u/0/111211435527425505173/posts LLoyd

    when i got my first smart phone (HTC EVO) i kept one eye on apple in case i wanted to jump ship. that was andriod 2.1 Eclair, by the time i saw android 4.1 Ice cream sandwich i had no interest whatsoever in ios. im content with the os and i love my GS3 and ios looks nearly the same as it did when i had my EVO. 

  • sehenc

    About the scrolling – at least the iPhone I borrowed did not scroll as fast as Android, because if I wanted to scroll down several pages, the scrolling slowed down to quick and then I had to swipe again, and again. 
    On Android, it keeps scolling with the speed you swiped with at the first swipe. That is convenient!

    • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

      Yes this is what I meant, it slows down almost unnaturally, like in syrup :P

  • sehenc

    Ok if Rashid used some big words in the comparison, but your answers show that you are missing the point. 
    You admit most of the fact but you use “it not a problem to me so I still think my iPhone is the best”. You do that. Apple have the best marketers and they are successful.I mean, for example, as in nr 4: “Why not just open Instagram, click on the photo album app and import the photo”. Well, if you just have taken the picture, it is a shortcut to use app integration to share it to Instagram directly, isn’t it? That’s the idea – allowing to do it in a lot af ways and you can choose the most convenient. I can’t understand how you can dismiss the advantage? Like most of the other examples. 

    • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

      Exactly, just because you can work around the flaws, doesn’t mean they are not flaws!

  • sehenc

    There are these differences. Strange that it makes iPhone users so upset…

  • Pedrosa1

    I had an Omnia i900 running the OS before Froyo (can’t remember what it was called now but it was 2.1) and to begin with it was great. You could do everything that was said in the article (or near enough) but then over time it started to get slower and slower, the scrolling was jittery, apps took an age to open, and some would crash. So i decided to upgrade to froyo 2.3 and again to begin with it was superb for the first 6-9 months, but again, over time it started to slow down again and had the same symptoms I had with 2.1. The palava of updating android back then is one that I don’t even wish on my worst enemy. It’s horrendous! So when froyo started to slow down I thought time for a change which is when I thought I’d try the iPhone 4S. When I first got it I thought the exact same as the author of the article. I hated it as it was just not as “customisable” as android, but then after I kept with it and got used to its restrictions and alternative ways of doing things, I grew accustomed to iOS and now love it. A year down the line and the phone is still as fast and responsive as it was new, and the quality of the apps you get are much better. It’s the same old adage “it works” which is something I couldn’t say about the android. I also never liked the UI of android. That all black background, horrible. Admittedly, I do still miss the customisability (Is that a word?), and wish the iPhone keyboard had an extra line for the numbers, but at the same time I can write a lot, lot faster using the apple keyboard. Anyway, bottom line is that I don’t regret getting the iPhone……not one bit! The compromise is worth it for my requirements, and updating the software couldn’t be easier.

    • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

      You shouldn#t really be comparing an Omnia to the iPhone. These are two different classes of device. You need to be using a top end android handset really.

  • Rdpeezy
  • Dozryan

    Here is a way to remove stock apps without Jailbreaking. It’s not the best, and still requires a hack per say but it works:

    http://www.doztech.net/mobile/remove-stock-iphone-apps/

  • Adam Mott

    I don’t use spotify, instagram, or any other app talked about (because I hate them really). The iPhone has iMessage, which gives virtually unlimited texting to anyone that doesn’t get unlimited texting. The iPhone is actually smoother scrolling IMO (Retina display, smooth, bright, HD). And the Apple Store has Bike Race. So iPhone it is for me.
    BTW I hate Apple. They are the entity of evil nazi fascists, and their customer service is sh!t. But as far as I’m concerned, iPhone all the way.
    If I want cool customization, power, HDD, etc. I’ll just jump on my badass custom gaming PC.

  • Emailandthingsemailandthings

    douch!

  • Alan Frabutt

    Rachid, 
    It’s kind of sad to see this type of argument construction played out here… it’s annoying enough in the political arena. Yet another false dichotomy; yet another staged “this versus that”, chock-full of logical fallacies. Yet another echo chamber, full of people slapping each other on the back, talking smack about the {fanbois;libtards;rethuglicans;whatever}. I came over to Google+ from Facebook hoping there would be less of this. The digital infrastructure of the internet has such wonderful potential as a global force for democracy and human rights, but people seem more interested in using it for the equivalent of football hooliganism.    I’ve been involved in this technology since it began.  Do you really think any of this hasn’t been done a dozen times before?  Do you really think I should be impressed with any of these “new” features, or how the UI elements are strung together?  Sometimes leaving something out is the better choice; elegance is relevant.  Perhaps we should take a cue from Wittgenstein:  ”Of that which we can speak, we should speak precisely; of that which we cannot, we should remain silent”.  
    Regards, 
    Alan

    • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

      Hi Alan,

      I hope, or at least I tried, to explain why for me, the iPhone just isn’t a good device. I tried to back up my reasons with actual examples too. The word fanboi is a difficult one, because obviously I run an android website. Does that make me a fanboi? Possibly, in some peoples eyes. But I hope to be set apart from that label as I did attempt to give reasons for my views.

      Are you asking that I should have just remained silent instead? Isn’t the internet built to allow us to share our ideas, and thoughts with the world? I’d argue that instead of staying silent, we should all use this fantastic medium to express how we feel, as long as we do it without malicious intent.

      • http://twitter.com/markrlangston Mark Langston

        Based on the superfluous reasons you state that you don’t like the iPhone and why the Android is so much better then yes, you are the equivalent of a “fanboi” (or fanboy if you so prefer). 

        Ask yourself this, do you consider those that run an Apple site to be fanboy’s of Apple and completely blind to any other platform? If your answer is ‘yes’ then you my friend are the pot calling the kettle black. 

        It’d be different if you cited things that you didn’t like about the iPhone while citing things that you do like and what you think iOS may be do better/different than Android. Instead your entire article is written as a nasty-gram to Apple and iOS and that the iPhone can’t even possible match Android based on all the issues you cited. 

        So if you don’t want to come off as some pompous Android lover and Apple hater then you need to be more constructive about your approach.

        I’m a devoted Apple fan but in my original post I pointed out things that I do like about Android because as I stated before, there’s no perfect phone/ecosystem. They all have flaws. What’s important is that you find something that fits you.

        • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

          There are a few items that are my personal opinion, I haven’t been afraid to confirm that. But I’ve tried to give reasons to back up what I think doesn’t work for me.

          I asked myself this, and I answered no. I don’t agree that people who run an Apple website are fanboys. Thats a very poor generalisation, I will view people on who they are as individuals, not on what type of website they may run or write for.

          I have already mentioned, in fact if you read my article I actually made this very clear that there are some things Apple does better, and I that will attempt to document these in a later post. You saw that right?

          I do believe I was constructive in most of my points. Like I said, I gave actual examples most of the time to highlight my views.

          I can tell you are a devoted Apple fan of course, but I hope that doesn’t stop you from reading my post, and my replies to you as to why the iPhone just doesn’t work for me. 

          If, after all of this you still wish to label me as a “fanboy”, then go ahead, the internet was built on freedom of speech, but I still stand my ground and refute that label.

      • Alan Frabutt

        Rachid, 
        I appreciate your thoughtful response.  I’ll try and respond concisely, to avoid “TL,DR”.  I was referring more to the context of the whole thing… my perspective might be very difficult for you to get your mind around.  I’ve been an open source/Linux/Unix advocate since the 1980s.  During the same time, watching Jobs work through NeXT, and then re-inventing Apple, while the other Unix players exhibited incomprehensible, implosive, market strategies, and Linux completely failing to gain any foothold on the desktop, was quite an education. Microsoft took the whole game. The whole freaking game.  There are important lessons in what happened then; Taligent/Kaleida?  Microsoft Cairo?  While technology is my profession, art is my passion. Technology has a soul of sorts, and it can be quite beautiful or quite ugly. NeXTStep had a complete, top-to-bottom synthesis and architecture; nothing else was even in the same room. X-Windows?  CORBA?  Please. What Jobs (or rather the team he put together) wrought had the beauty and focus of a single, brilliant architect.  While Linus keeps the Linux kernel reasonably tight, the problem with Linux desktop (and subsequently Android), is that there are a thousand cooks in the kitchen, but no chef.  If you have the time, check the old UseNet archives and see the techniques detractors of any given thing would use in their flamewars, back in that timeframe.  This would give some perspective as to why I find much of the “dialogue” and “discussions” in blogs like this so sad and tiresome.  We never learn, do we?  Well, maybe we do.  Keep seeking reason and truth, and maintain your sense of humor :)
        Regards, 
        Alan
            

  • TRNR

    That was a great read. I can agree on many points that you made on iPhone’s “disfunctional” functionality. I myself have used, or attepmted to use, an iPhone keyboard several times and complete frustration was my only result. The simple functionality I was use to on my Android was not apparent when using Apple’s keyboard. You’ve covered the basics so no need to repeat the problems. And the thing I found funny was the amount of restrictions Apple has over their users, from what they can and cannot do with their devices. Kinda sounds like a government if you ask me! One final note, since they debuted their new “notification panel” in iOS 4 I couldn’t figure out 1) why they were “following” Android and 2) why everyone I knew was so happy about it. What I got from your article was that basically it’s just a place for everything to pop-up to tell you something is going on without any further functionality. Now that’s a feature!

  • Taisgidh

    You start off making some valid points but lose it when your article becomes riddled with factual errors. Clearly, you don’t know how to use the iOS keyboard. Google + uploads your photos in the background, so maybe Dropbox needs to pull up its socks. Scrolling is perfect, don’t understand your comment at all. Personally I hate Chrome and gMail on my iOS devices -so, none too impressed. Many apps include in-app settings. You certainly can share from the camera -take the photo, click on the resulting thumbprint, share to Facebook, iMessage, Twitter, email and many more. Don’t use Instagram so don’t know if that would offer itself as an option, but -you can share from the camera.

    Many tasks do require jumping through a few hoops and I hope these get addressed -you’re quite right there – but many of your other points simply do not hold water. Incidentally, I dictated all this directly to my iPad without a single flaw….

    • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

      If many apps include settings, then where am I to know where to look? It seems like they could be in one of two places, not great from a user point of view?

      Instagram is not an option from the photo. Sharing in android is quite a lot more sophisticated than ios.

      We have some pretty good voice dictation on android too :P

      • http://twitter.com/markrlangston Mark Langston

        So in your eyes having (some) settings in two places is confusing and an obvious deal-breaker. Are you suggesting that there’s not a secondary set of settings to control apps’ behavior in Android? Also, not every app has a secondary set of options within Settings.

        Hulu for example has an almost useless placement in Settings displaying the only build version number. I question its relevancy but I assume Hulu didn’t want this information accessible from within the app. Maybe for aesthetic purposes to keep the app clean.

        Sames goes for Bank of America, NBA Gametime, Target, The Verge and many others. I did notice that PayPal also has a button for “Acknowledgements” which is just a place to hold their legal jargon but there are no other settings or app controls to speak of. 

        It’s not as though Apple forces every single app to have a presence within Settings. I have over 90 apps on my phone and yet there are less than 20 apps (not including the native apps) represented in Settings. 

        So again, this argument about additional options within Settings, as Taisgidh states, doesn’t hold water. 

        • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

          The fact that you don’t know if you should change settings from within an app, or from a global settings menu is very confusing yes. In android, you control an apps settings through the app.

          The Hulu and aesthetic purposes doesn’t really make sense. If they have settings within the app, then an additional line added there won’t make any difference aesthetically!

          The argument actually holds even more water now. I didn’t realise some apps placed settings within the app. So yes, having potentially two places, on an app by app basis is very poor, and worse than simply having them all in one global settings menu.

          How can you not agree with that?

          • http://twitter.com/markrlangston Mark Langston

            “I didn’t realise some apps placed settings within the app…”

            So you’re in the UK. Either that or you prefer to spell “realize” with an ‘s’. I guess it’s “colour” too, aye? 

            Anyway, did you actually use an iPhone? Or do you just have no idea how to talk/type? Maybe both. 

            I noticed you fixed the original post where you said, “I got given an iPhone”, which sounded like a 3rd grader was writing the post so maybe I’m debating these topics with someone that just lacks the capacity to understand. 

            Either way, enjoy your Android. Again, iOS isn’t for everyone and it’s abundantly clear the iPhone is not for you. 

          • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

            I am in the UK yes, are you now attacking the English language?! What has that to do with the article…??

            I do own the iPhone (read the first paragraph in the article). Oh, back to attacking my use of the English language, that I spell colour with a u, and realise with an s? Come on friend, you’re above that aren’t you?

            I did fix the grammatical mistakes in my post, I am big enough to accept when I have made a mistake, and correct those flaws in my thinking. You don’t seem to be as humble.

            ios is not for everyone, especially not for me. I actually think you may finally be getting the point of my article!!

  • Slindalen

    Your just another AndroIDIOT !

    #LoveApple

    • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

      Have any specific comments on the points i raised?

  • Sexypigeon81

    You forgot the fact you have to be plugged into iTunes to delete a song from your phone, that was pretty annoying, doubt they have changed this but it was certainly the case with the 3gs

    • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

      They have changed it with the latest os update yeah, thankfully!

  • Ibrahim

    I used the BB until they decided that I didn’t need to access my e-mails on more than one occasion when it was dire! 
    The result, I shifted to Apple because I can access my e-mails etc. Am I pleased with it? Not entirely. Do I agree with Rashid? Absolutely! Is Apple going to drop something better as a result of constructive comments from guys who like the green guy…
    Let’s hope so, because once BB gets its act together I’m switching again!

  • Pt Xavi

    Windows Phone 8 is the answer!

    • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

      Ha, nice try Ballmer, use your real name next time :P

  • Kanklujaguar
    • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

      Psh, you cared enough to come here and post :P  

  • http://twitter.com/thinkscientist Ash Minhas

    Spotify does keep syncing in the background if you are on AC power and connected to wifi..stop hating on the iPhone. I have a iPhone and Note 2 so i’m not biased

    • http://www.facebook.com/rmcvicker Rick McVicker

      aaaaaand my android syncs, well, all the time!

  • PiotrZagawa

    TOGGLING THINGS ON/OFF

    Yes, you must do it constantly on droid.

    Maybe because your batter barely holds for 5 hours, while iPhone battery is 10 hours strong.

    Or because most droid buyers can’t spend more money on iPhone, they buy cheap phones, and they also can’t afford to get data plan, so they save on any incoming byte, playing with data toggle button thousands time a day :D

    BACKGROUND SERVICES

    First, you are liar. Background services are always draining battery. On Android, user can’t determine what, how many and when services of any application start, stop, or are sending your private data. You can’t even know when a service is starting and is it the application in foreground or background service draining battery. Any application can and are scheduling running services first at boot and then on specific date and time.

    And more, many apps have ugly written services which not only send and receive huge amount of data, but also they do it often and drain battery while you sleep :)

    Did I said, that typical Android phone is running 10 to 50 services at a time? Your phone is ALWAYS running something, processing and sending data even in sleep mode.

    And the best part is – you DON’T KNOW WHAT really your phone is doing.

    APP INTERACTION

    iPhone has so many software, that many users just don’t need any app interaction. If you lack some function, just install proper app for that.

    SETTINGS

    I prefer to have it in one place. This is consistent and you can always find them. Instead, on Android, you have MENU button with settings dissapeared in 4.x version. No consistency, no order. User is lost.

    Each Android version do options menu or action bar in other way. Fragmentation. And even each app handles settings in other way. Besides, you don’t go to settings all the time. Most people set things once. And if you change something often, it is fail of a developer to not bring this option on application front view.

    NOTIFICATIONS

    grouping was introduced in 4.x. 75% of Android phones still have old notifications behaviour because of fragmentation.

    UI

    On iPhone is greatly designed. Never changes it’s shape, as a Porsche. Because you can’t too much improve what is done right. Android, however is constantly shaping. And still looks underdeveloped.

    Your other complaints are not worth commenting.

    • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

      TOGGLING THINGS ON/OFF
      I have the Note II, this runs android. And has a much better battery life than your iPhone, fact. Especially if you think 10 hours is a long time…

      BACKGROUND SERVICES
      I am not a liar, you are just horribly misinformed. My one reply to your whole section on background services is that you must do more (or at least start to) reading to increase your knowledge. 

      APP INTERACTION
      Impossible, Apple regulates too much. What you wrote is entirely applicable to android, not ios.

      SETTINGS
      Apps on the iPhone can choose to have settings in the main general settings area, or within their own app. This is incredibly inconsistent! No order is lost on android. The menu button appears on screen if you have no physical menu button, and hides if you do have a menu button. Very simple, very intuitive, very easy to use.

      NOTIFICATIONS
      I wasn’t comparing old android software. I was doing a like for like on the latest versions :)

      UI
      If you think this, then good for you. But trust me, its not the same believe held by many others.

      Look forward to hearing your replies to my comments. But please do take the time to at least try to understand how android works, before replying with more inaccurate generalisations!

      • PiotrZagawa

        “…you must do more (or at least start to) reading to increase your knowledge.”

        I did that. Wonder if you done the same. I have created five apps for Android in my spare time, and I work with Android starting from version 0.9 SDK beta. I believe I have enough knowledge to talk about Android imperfections.

        https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=Piotr.Zagawa

        Show me your apps.

        • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

          Creating an android app does not mean you understand the fundamentals of how android works. That is proof of nothing. For example you saying that “your android phone is always running something” is a bad thing. This is not necessarily true, and shows you lack some fundamental knowledge of the OS.

          On a separate note, I’d be happy to provide you with some constructive feedback of your android apps if you like?

          • PiotrZagawa

            http://developer.android.com/reference/android/app/AlarmManager.html

            This manager can schedule any service to run at any time, even if device is in sleep mode. It is used by samsung and htc developers to destroy your battery and spy on you :) Also, any app service can be run at boot (of course if permission enabled).

            Only nexus series have small amount of well designed services. Other phones have modified android with apps publishing harmful services. Also, unaware users are installing apps with their own set of services slowing down the phone and doing youdontknowwhatandwhen.

            As I already said – user CAN’T determine at install time how many services does app publish, when these services are scheduled to start. User has no direct control over that. Period. This is serious flaw in user experience.

            About my apps – some of them are old, not supported, written years ago in emulator, so don’t expect best experience. The only still supported is “Diamond Jack” and CityAlarm (not available in US). Thanks.

  • John Westerdale

    Now smart phones are commodity items. Price will drop, and the differentiation will get slim. Next.and… Second Comatoast – Swype for the win!

  • Sinned72

    I am an iPhone user primarily (and have been since the iPhone 3G landed in Canada in 2008) but I have a Nexus 7 to see what may be worthwhile on the Android platform (I also have a BB Playbook as well.) My comments are more about my usage of the iPhone instead of comparing it to the Android tablet experience. In your list of stuff there are somethings that I can probably agree with however there are sever items I think not real talking points:

    Shortcuts for turning stuff on or off like Wifi, BT, and the like are not really that important as the main reason for this is battery savings and I do not see that. The hotspot functionality would be a good candidate for this but the rest offer no good reason.

    Screen size, I feel I am an average sized human male, the Galaxy S3 is too big to use one handed for me without dropping the phone a lot. The even bigger devices like the Note are even crazier and I am not certain I see how they are a good choice for use or portability if all you want is a phone (but I suppose that is really a question of opinion.)

    Unlimited Data is a fallacy and does not really exist in the world. I could image right now a commuter train filled with like 2000 people all downloading apps at the same time if a system allowed for it. I am willing to bet that the limitation is more carrier driven than Apple but maybe it is Apple’s nod to being better on the network since they do not perform compression to same bandwidth.

    The Newstand ‘App’ is actually already a folder, a special folder where Newspaper and Magazine apps go and facilitates scrolling in the folder, unlike the standard folders. One icon out off 16 (or 20) out of 11 pages of icons is not something to even warrant mentioning.

    Settings was a choice they made, it could have gone the other way but they wanted clarity in the interface. I am not sure I understand the scrolling reference, I find nothing really that noticeable. I was running a soft phone on my iPhone as a background process without issues, the experience could be better but I think it did a decent job (although it was a sizeable battery drain.) I have some apps that allowed for some interaction (opening PDFs in something other than iBooks for example) so I think that is more of an application design issue not a platform constraint.

    Lastly, tired UI, I hate this argument as a whole, Windows 7 has a tired UI as it is the same on Microsoft started using in 1995. Where is the outrage and complaining about that, or better yet was has this not been the a complaint since Windows XP launched in 2001/2002. Sure Windows 8 has changed it and it is getting outrage for cutting the cord to quickly, as it were. Of course the UI is tired because it was very simple and clear UI from day one and while somethings can/have been changed, it is not really logical to change it completely for the sake of change. I love Linux and X-Windows for the breadth of stuff you can do with in the platform but it is massive work keeping it workable whereas the options and simplicity of OS X and the Aqua GUI give me lot of the functionality I want in my Unix workstation with the massive work to ensure continuous function.

    Ultimately, I think, much like Linux, fragmentation is what is really the big pain on Android and it would be better to more controlled (may be not full walled garden like Apple, although a security case could be made the walled garden is not all bad) however that will get the carriers to drop it like a hot potato since they like their control (at least here in North America.) Also, I expect Samsung and HTC like the ability to differentiate, as well, but that could be handled via options versus force feeding.

    • Sinned72

      Oh and on a side note, going from Apple’s IOS to Android Jelly Bean was not a simple switch and I had to spend a fair amount of time to learn how to do things. This learning curve reality is probably the case for all types of platform switches (I expect even BB7 to BB10 will be very similar in learning curve.) Arguing this to be a flaw is unreasonable since you will always have a bias towards the first platform you learned as being the ‘better’ platform from a design perspective. The only time I did not get this particular platform to platform vibe was after switching to Mac OS X in 2005 where I actually liked the way it did things more that the way MS Windows or certain MS Windows-like applications in X-Windows did (I have actually come to hate the way MS Windows does Multi-Document Interfaces now.)

  • Hari

    I didn’t hate the iPhone when it first came out and my well to do friends got one each. Longed for one, but that was before the Summer of 2011, when I got myself a Galaxy S2. Needless to say, even the latest iPhone and I bet my life the next 2 iPhones can’t even match the elegance of Galaxy S2 that came 2 years back. 4G,Bluetooth that can talk to other devices, WiFi direct, USB file transfers, external SD cards, custom home screens and widgets and a lot more. What you have listed here is Apple glitches that most Android users don’t even know apart from the regular stuff that I have mentioned above. Great compilation.

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