10 simple reasons why I dumped Android for the iPhone 4S

dengirl · Feb 8, 2012

mikeglongo said:
Androids have horrible battery life but almost the same as the iPhone IMO

I have had a bb droid incredible and now iPhone and they all thee last till evening to be charged. Not one better than the other. IMO

dengirl · Feb 8, 2012

Mikejr20 said:
I had an android and the battery sucked compared to my new iPhone 4s. The android would die within 2 hours surfing the web or using apps. My iPhone I can use for 10+ hours doing all that an more.

My droid did that but not till it was close to two years old. When it was time to renew my contract. Funny how that works haha but all in all it didn't start doing that till almost two years of use.

Mr.Mischief · Feb 8, 2012

#9 is completely untrue . Last year I made $40 an hour selling used Android phones. Most of them year old models that sold for $200-$300. Not a mint, but decent for an after school job.

Chris951 · Feb 8, 2012

Mr.Mischief said:
#9 is completely untrue . Last year I made $40 an hour selling used Android phones. Most of them year old models that sold for $200-$300. Not a mint, but decent for an after school job.

They don't hold their value like iPhones do though, which was the OP's point.

Mr.Mischief · Feb 8, 2012

Technarchy said:
I finally got fed up and dumped android for an iPhone 4S. Here's why.

1. I shouldn't have to handle hardware and software integration to get android to offer the best performance. This should be done by the device manufacturer. I have a job. I don't need another one.

2. Android is poorly supported by carriers and manufacturers. You'd be lucky to see one major update a year on a brand new device. Apple gave the 3 year old 3GS their current iOS5. Better support good, less support bad, especially when talking two year contracts. No more aggravation for me from waiting 6 months to a year for an android OS update that will outdated as soon as it is released.

3. The games selection sucks on android. iOS gets all the big budget titles from big name games developers. Also Infinity Blade 2 works on a 3 year old 3GS. Good luck getting Shadowgun to run on your HTC Evo.

4. 95% of android phones are suck-ass horrible laggy messes. iOS is super smooth, stable and allows me to do what I really want to be doing, which is not tweaking roms to keep the phone from sucking. There is no such thing as a bad iPhone. There are plenty of horrible android phones.

5. iPhones have a better battery life. More time surfing, gaming, messaging and talking without a charge needed. This makes the iPhone a better lifestyle accommodating device.

6. All the Google ecosystem apps I need on android are also on iOS. (Search, Voice, Maps, Youtube, Gmail, etc etc)

7. iOS has greater cohesiveness between apps, OS features and hardware. With android you can tell there is almost zero synergy between apps, hardware and OS. This is true even on Google's own Galaxy Nexus.

8. iOS versions of apps look and flow better than android versions. Examples: Sprint users app.

9. Android phones retain zero value after a couple of months. 3GS iPhones still command a price of a few hundred dollars, which is great for selling to fund an iPhone5.

10. Fragmentation...

Now this list does not suggest android does nothing right. Not true at all, but these are the main reasons why I dumped android, and probably will not be returning.
__________________

Before you read: while I'm not an Android fanboy, I am similarly not an Apple fanboy. I use what works, and what works for me now is an iPhone 4. I love it. I've owned all the iPhones except for the 4s.

1. Not quite getting this point, but ok.

2. True-ish(depends on the manufacturer), but have you tried using a 3GS on iOS 5? Much of Apple's updates are just patches for jailbreaking holes. Lets not get into iOS 5 battery life.

3. Android has plenty of games. I just checked the games I have on my iPhone, and they're available on Android. I play flight sims, Nova 1 & 2, Brothers in Arms, Modern Combat, and the Asphalt racing games. There are also many games available at Mobile Games - Top iPhone Games, Android Games, Java Games for Cell Phones | Gameloft.

4. Have you owned 95% of all the Android phones? If not, this point is bull crap. I haven't owned even close to 95%, but I've had the HTC Aria, Samsung Vibrant, Dell Streak 5, Samsung GS 4G, HTC MyTouch 4G, and a couple others. None of them were laggy or slow. They all ran either Android 2.1 or 2.2.

5. This point is kinda true. Previous Android phones had atrocious battery life. But, the latest crop of Android phones has decent battery life, some even better than the iPhone.

iPhone 4: 6 hours battery life: Apple iPhone 4

Samsung GS II: 7:38 battery life: Samsung Galaxy S II (T-Mobile) Review | Android Smartphone ReviewsHTC Sensation 4G: 7:12 battery life: HTC Sensation 4G Review | HTC Smart Phone Reviews | Best T-Mobile Android PhonesMotorola Atrix 2: 6:51 battery life: Motorola Atrix 2 (AT&T) Reviewed | Android Smartphone ReviewsTC Rezound: 7:38 battery life: HTC Rezound Review (Verizon Wireless) | Android & Smartphone Reviews at LAPTOP MagazineSo, yeah, quite a few have fair battery life, and like the phones above, many have excellent battery life.

6. This isn't a point against or for either.

7. Don't really know about this one, everything worked fine together on my Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant(Android phone I used the most).

8. Again, this point is similar to 7, so I'm not really sure on this.

9. Wrong. Completely untrue. Last year I made $40 an hour selling used Android phones. Most of them year old models that sold for $200-$300. Not a mint, but decent for an after school job. An iPhone 3GS costs $150 nowadays, a similar Samsung Vibrant costs the same. Last year, the HTC MyTouch 4G cost around $250 in eBay, this year(12 months later), they cost $180. That's not bad. Last year the iPhone 3GS sold for $230, this year less than $180. I bought and sold iPhone and Android phones last year, I know my numbers.

10. you haven't really listed much here, so there's not much to discuss. If you mean file fragmentation, I'm don't believe this happens with either OS.

CatLand · Feb 8, 2012

I went from the iPhone 4 to the Samsung Galaxy SII. Had that phone for less then 30 days and picked up the 4s. I do not miss the Android OS at all. Crashes, lags, phone was big....I'm glad I went back to the iPhone. The iPhone just works.

scottmti · Feb 9, 2012

Well I'm just new to iPhone. I only had it for about 2 months.
I've had DroidX for one year and rooted and used it well. Battery life was okay but not great. Change to Incredible cause it was more portable. Battery life was awful. Bought a extended battery, phone got thicker but battery lasted me whole day. I enjoy Incredible for year and half. Time to "upgrade" Bought a Nexus, huge phone, great screen, liked the ICS OS. Terrible reception and battery life is worst than anything I ever had. I had to recharge every 4 hrs. I keep looking at the phone just to see my battery level. I would have bought a extended battery of signal is good, but signal was awful. Maybe that's why my battery drain so fast. So I took it back and got me a HTC Rezound. Nice phone. Better than Nexus, good size, decent battery life. Not great but okay. I just charge it every 6 hrs.
I took it back and got a iPhone 4s.
Okay, I will get to the point why iPhone is better choice for me.
1. Battery, yes battery is not great. I still charge it similar to HTC. every 6hrs or so. But here is a kicker, iPhone charges the phone twice as fast. I don't know how but it really does charges quickly. Much faster than 3 android device. 4 if you count my wife android.
note: for those of you who own LG android phones, yes they charges faster almost like iPhone. But others do not.
2. Accessories. There are too many to list. Start with case to what ever you need, they made it.
3. I think this is probably the main reason why I chose iPhone over android phones. Resale Value. There are more demand for iPhone than any android device. I will bet my iPhone4s 16gb will cost more than HTC Rezound next year. Maybe it might cost more than Nexus next year. The way Samsung is spitting out new product every months Nexus will be so last year in no time. They are already coming out with SG3 soon. I got burned with my Infinity car when I should have bought a Lexus with same money. 4 years later when I trade in my Infinity, it cost less than Camry or Honda accord. I will never make similar mistake again. So I bought a iPhone4s.

so that's my story on iPhone. If iPhone is 4" this phone would be perfect.

rudyy · Feb 9, 2012

I'm back and here are my favorite things about the iPhone 4 on 5.0.1:
- it took nine steps with the iphone hooked to a computer to set a music file as a ringtone; the silly Android requires a looong press on a music file to select it as such;
- Apple spends a lot of energy, money and lawyers closing jailbreaks and trying to make my phone Apple's phone; slippery Android's signature phone line, the Nexus, is easily rooted (as are other Android phones) and no one's taking you to court;
- the iPhone lets you see a notification if the screen is on or you catch it when the lock screen comes on for 5 seconds; Android has an LED (wastes battery, though, it's so bright) that you can from across the room;
- iPhone has one button allowing me to use it dozens of time a day, maybe hundreds, ensuring it'll wear out; Android has four buttons, and with ButtonRemapper, you can move the functions around, lessening the wear and tear on any one;
- the gorgeous glass back of the iPhone scratches just looking at it, forcing you to protect it with some awful case or equally ugly skin; the Droid X (mine) comes with a rugged, but cheap plastic back;
- iPhone has a sweet keyboard that you press press press; Android has at least 2 that allow you to swipe (yes, I had the similar one in Cydia on my iPhone for a week; it's junk);
- there is no easy method to install non-Apple apps (iFile isn't really easy); with Android you download from anywhere, touch the zip file, choose installer;
- with iPhone I get 1 OS, take it or go backwards if you've saved your blobs; Android devs offer dozens of ROMs; I installed 24 on my DX; some I liked, some I didn't;
- I could go on by my iPhone battery has lost 88% of its full charge while at work (and yes, I did have work to do.)

having said all this, I still like my iPhone for other reasons that I'll list some time after I charge the battery for the second time today.
Flame away.

perezr10 · Feb 9, 2012

The button thing is just wrong. That one button is intended to be used all day long for many years and it won't break. If it would break, resale value wouldn't be so high for such an obvious flaw. I suppose since your experience is with cheap Android phones, I can understand your concern that it'll "wear out".

And having only one button means you ALWAYS hit the right button. Don't even have to look at it.

Supahrob · Feb 9, 2012

I dunno - I had the OG Droid, the Droid X and the Droid X2 - loved em all. Never had a problem. Never thought of ANY of them as laggy. All three of them blew both my iPhones away with battery life - I hear complaints about Android Battery life often on this forum. Not sure why - like I said, all three were significantly better than my iPhone 4, and my iPhone 4S.

Now - I actually like my iPhone 4s better than my droids for other reasons - one I think you listed, is that I find the apps tend to be better. Since my 4S is jailbroken it is now my favorite phone ever. I am finding new cool things to do with it every day.

I think the iPhone 4 and 4S (especially the 4S) have amazing camera's! Waaay better than the Droids I owned. I know many Androids now have front facing camera's - but none of mine did. It's a feature I really like on my 4S.

Like I said, I loved all of my Android phones - I have nothing but good things to say about them - but I do like my 4S better.

There are two things that I think the Android beats the iPhone on, and beat it big time. First: expandable memory. My Droid X came with 8 gigs built in, and I had a 16 gig card - that's 24 gigs (NOT including the system partition, I mean 24 gigs of user available space) for the price of a 16 Gig iPhone. I hear that Droids that can use even larger cards are not far off (can they use 64 gig cards yet?). The second is the navigation app. The maps app on the iPhone is just plain silly compared to Google Maps on an Android Phone. No contest - the iPhone loses badly, here. Yes there are 3rd party apps for the iPhone - some are free... but the Google Maps app is free and built in. In these two area's, the iPhone trails far behind an average Android based phone. In other area's, I tend to think it's a matter of personal taste. I prefer the iPhone.

Take care,
Rob

Take care,
Rob

seneca18 · Feb 9, 2012

Like I said earlier my last phone was the htc hero but I have a lot of experience with the htc evo and evo 3d, also I have a transformer tablet I got in a craigslist trade. personally if one is so interested in flashing roms, customizing interfaces, or using other 3rd part features I don't know why in the world you would even consider getting an iPhone. Even a jailbroken iOS device is no where near as customizable as a rooted android device. For me while I enjoy some of the android features the over all experience is much smoother and more convenient on my iPhone and iPad. Also, there have been issues with android recently, with such an open source OS it is easier to get malware past the android market. Just last week there were reports of millions of downloads that contained a virus. Another point too is that some manufactures are making their devices harder to crack. I still frequent android forums as I still have my transformer and people are complaining that the new transformer prime has issues when it comes to rooting it.

Technarchy · Feb 10, 2012

Mr.Mischief said:
Before you read: while I'm not an Android fanboy, I am similarly not an Apple fanboy. I use what works, and what works for me now is an iPhone 4. I love it. I've owned all the iPhones except for the 4s.

1. Not quite getting this point, but ok.

2. True-ish(depends on the manufacturer), but have you tried using a 3GS on iOS 5? Much of Apple's updates are just patches for jailbreaking holes. Lets not get into iOS 5 battery life.

3. Android has plenty of games. I just checked the games I have on my iPhone, and they're available on Android. I play flight sims, Nova 1 & 2, Brothers in Arms, Modern Combat, and the Asphalt racing games. There are also many games available at Mobile Games - Top iPhone Games, Android Games, Java Games for Cell Phones | Gameloft.

4. Have you owned 95% of all the Android phones? If not, this point is bull crap. I haven't owned even close to 95%, but I've had the HTC Aria, Samsung Vibrant, Dell Streak 5, Samsung GS 4G, HTC MyTouch 4G, and a couple others. None of them were laggy or slow. They all ran either Android 2.1 or 2.2.

5. This point is kinda true. Previous Android phones had atrocious battery life. But, the latest crop of Android phones has decent battery life, some even better than the iPhone.

iPhone 4: 6 hours battery life: Apple iPhone 4

Samsung GS II: 7:38 battery life: Samsung Galaxy S II (T-Mobile) Review | Android Smartphone ReviewsHTC Sensation 4G: 7:12 battery life: HTC Sensation 4G Review | HTC Smart Phone Reviews | Best T-Mobile Android PhonesMotorola Atrix 2: 6:51 battery life: Motorola Atrix 2 (AT&T) Reviewed | Android Smartphone ReviewsTC Rezound: 7:38 battery life: HTC Rezound Review (Verizon Wireless) | Android & Smartphone Reviews at LAPTOP MagazineSo, yeah, quite a few have fair battery life, and like the phones above, many have excellent battery life.

6. This isn't a point against or for either.

7. Don't really know about this one, everything worked fine together on my Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant(Android phone I used the most).

8. Again, this point is similar to 7, so I'm not really sure on this.

9. Wrong. Completely untrue. Last year I made $40 an hour selling used Android phones. Most of them year old models that sold for $200-$300. Not a mint, but decent for an after school job. An iPhone 3GS costs $150 nowadays, a similar Samsung Vibrant costs the same. Last year, the HTC MyTouch 4G cost around $250 in eBay, this year(12 months later), they cost $180. That's not bad. Last year the iPhone 3GS sold for $230, this year less than $180. I bought and sold iPhone and Android phones last year, I know my numbers.

10. you haven't really listed much here, so there's not much to discuss. If you mean file fragmentation, I'm don't believe this happens with either OS.

1. Spend a few hours or days or weeks or months trying to find ROMS and roots to make your android OS current and not laggy because the manufacturer abandoned you, and now you are dependent on some basement designed buggy ROM to keep things together.

2. How many devices have Ice Cream Sandwich a two months later? How many devices released within the last 90 days have a prayer of getting it. If Apple releases iOS6, I know my phone will have it pretty quick because Apple cares about their customers more than Google, HTC, Motorola, and Samsung.

3. Almost all android games are ported from iOS after then fact so they tend to run pretty horribly, and only on select devices. Name any company investing Infinity Blade II level development time and money into Android. They aren't because the market is too small despite android's user base being larger than iOS.

4. Android is laggy period. It all goes back to android's lack of hardware acceleration, poor overall coding that keeps devices locked at 30fps instead of 60fps, and touch screen code that was slapped onto a OS that was originally designed to compete against blackberry. Google android + laggy and there will be a million pages on the subject. This is no accident.

5. Android phones have gotten better because they are shipping with huge batteries. The 4S has a tiny 1432 mAh and still gets 8 hours of talk time. You put a battery that size in any android phone and it'll be dead by lunch time.

6. It eases the transition from Android to Google for first time iPhone owners. It means I lose nothing by changing, so its a reason why I dumped android. If there were not Google apps on iOS, I might have stuck with android because of my dependence on the ecosystem.

7. It's not a matter of "working fine". Lots of things work fine. There is a reason why 95% of android phones suck, and a big part of that is the use of off the shelf parts slapped together and mated to bad code that was designed without focus on the hardware.

8. Android's apps look and flow better making for a better user experience so you enjoy using your device more. There is a reason why the iPhone is the standard in this area. No one is praising Android's user experience on any android device...

9. Try and sell a 3 year old android phone for the same price a 3GS usually goes for. See how well that works for you.

10. Yeah because all android phones released in the last year will get Ice Cream Sandwich in a timely fashion, with great support from the manufacturers and carriers. I know my i4S will get iOS6 (If there is such a thing), but I wouldn't bet a penny on any android device released yesterday will get Ice Cream Sandwich ever. This affects the apps you can use, the services you can use, the security of the devices and the options available to you. Take a moment to research what OS fragmentation is.

Mr.Mischief · Feb 10, 2012

Technarchy said:
1. Spend a few hours or days or weeks or months trying to find ROMS and roots to make your android OS current and not laggy because the manufacturer abandoned you, and now you are dependent on some basement designed buggy ROM to keep things together.

2. How many devices have Ice Cream Sandwich a two months later? How many devices released within the last 90 days have a prayer of getting it. If Apple releases iOS6, I know my phone will have it pretty quick because Apple cares about their customers more than Google, HTC, Motorola, and Samsung.

3. Almost all android games are ported from iOS after then fact so they tend to run pretty horribly, and only on select devices. Name any company investing Infinity Blade II level development time and money into Android. They aren't because the market is too small despite android's user base being larger than iOS.

4. Android is laggy period. It all goes back to android's lack of hardware acceleration, poor overall coding that keeps devices locked at 30fps instead of 60fps, and touch screen code that was slapped onto a OS that was originally designed to compete against blackberry. Google android + laggy and there will be a million pages on the subject. This is no accident.

5. Android phones have gotten better because they are shipping with huge batteries. The 4S has a tiny 1432 mAh and still gets 8 hours of talk time. You put a battery that size in any android phone and it'll be dead by lunch time.

6. It eases the transition from Android to Google for first time iPhone owners. It means I lose nothing by changing, so its a reason why I dumped android. If there were not Google apps on iOS, I might have stuck with android because of my dependence on the ecosystem.

7. It's not a matter of "working fine". Lots of things work fine. There is a reason why 95% of android phones suck, and a big part of that is the use of off the shelf parts slapped together and mated to bad code that was designed without focus on the hardware.

8. Android's apps look and flow better making for a better user experience so you enjoy using your device more. There is a reason why the iPhone is the standard in this area. No one is praising Android's user experience on any android device...

9. Try and sell a 3 year old android phone for the same price a 3GS usually goes for. See how well that works for you.

10. Yeah because all android phones released in the last year will get Ice Cream Sandwich in a timely fashion, with great support from the manufacturers and carriers. I know my i4S will get iOS6 (If there is such a thing), but I wouldn't bet a penny on any android device released yesterday will get Ice Cream Sandwich ever. This affects the apps you can use, the services you can use, the security of the devices and the options available to you. Take a moment to research what OS fragmentation is.

1. I never had to spend hours finding roms because none of the 5 or 6 Android phones I owned were laggy. I did play with roms for fun, but I usually went stock. If you had to spend hours playing with roms, you were doing something wrong.

2. Does it matter? Android Froyo and Honeycomb are still good OS's. Devices released in the last 90 days have an excellent chance of getting ICS.

3. You're wrong here too. I've used lots of games on Android, and as long as you don't have some cheap prepaid Android, the games run quite well.

4. You used one Android phone, and now you conclude all Android phones are buggy? That's pretty narrow thinking. Like I said, I've owned several Android phones, none were laggy. I used an HTC Aria with a 600MHz processor to a Dell Streak with a 1GHz processor.

5. Yep, they have bigger batteries, but they also have larger screens. You can't reasonable expect the battery from a 3.5" iPhone will power a 4.5" Samsung phone? Android phones have bigger batteries because they have larger screens. Take a look at the HTC MyTouch 4G. It has a 3.7" screen and a 1400mAh battery. The iPhone 4 has a 1420mAh battery. Weird? That's a bigger battery than a larger Android phone.

6. My first smartphones was an iPhone 3GS. I had no trouble transitioning to an Android phone.

7. You have no proof of this, you're just spouting bc. You've owned one Android phone, correct? Now, logically, how can you state that 95% of them suck?

8. I assume you meant iOS apps look and flow better. This is a matter of personal preference. I think both look and function great.

9. I've done that many times, and I have the receipts to prove it. I can sell a similar spec'd Android phone for the same amount as a 3GS. It isn't about age, it's about specs.

10. This point is just a reiteration of your 2nd point. OS "fragmentation" isn't necessarily a bad thing. All it means is that there are many devices to choose from, and they all don't have uniform apps. I don't see this as an issue.

I'd like to add 11th, 12th, and 13th points:

11. Screen size. Not everyone wants to squint at 3.5" screen. If the iPhone 5 doesn't have at least a 4" screen, I'll probably go to Android.

12. 4G data. You might not need/use 4G, but it's awesome. Pages, videos, and music(Pandora, TuneIn, etc) load much faster.

13. AWS support. None of the iPhones support US T-Mobile 3G. Sure, we can use an iPhone on 2G/edge(I've been using 2G/edge on my iPhone 4), but it's extremely slow. You're probably going to say, "Just go with AT&T or Verizon". Well, some places only get T-Mobile service. Also, an unlimited plan on T-Mobile, which you can use on any phone, costs $50 a month. A similar plan for AT&T costs upwards of $100. T-Mobile is cost effective and offers 4G.

Rocko · Feb 10, 2012

Yeah, I agree with most. I was a die hard Android user-had the Droid X. The buggyness, jittering transistions, slow typing, etc. drove me nuts. My wife still has the Droid 2 and everytime we do something at the same time, I beat her by 3x as fast. Texting, web pages, everything. Faster and smoother with less glitches or force closes. Plus customer service is A++++.