Static Icons vs Windows & Android live Icons

AFMasterSergeant · Nov 29, 2012

ALL,

Is it really that important to some people that the iPhone doesn't have live app icons? I've read about so many people up in arms about apple not utilizing live or real time icons, but do you think it's a game changer? The only things I really miss about my Android are the live weather/time app, and the widgets that allow you to turn on/off bluetooth, wi-fi, & maybe 3g/4g but that's about it, and it's not a deal breaker for me specifically. Thoughts from my new apple family???

scifan57 · Nov 29, 2012

AFMasterSergeant said:
ALL,

Is it really that important to some people that the iPhone doesn't have live app icons? I've read about so many people up in arms about apple not utilizing live or real time icons, but do you think it's a game changer? The only things I really miss about my Android are the live weather/time app, and the widgets that allow you to turn on/off bluetooth, wi-fi, & maybe 3g/4g but that's about it, and it's not a deal breaker for me specifically. Thoughts from my new apple family???

Personally, I think that live app icons are nothing more than a marketing ploy and contribute nothing to the operation of the phone. They use battery power to no good purpose.

ardchoille · Nov 29, 2012

scifan57 said:
Personally, I think that live app icons are nothing more than a marketing ploy and contribute nothing to the operation of the phone. They use battery power to no good purpose.

Agreed. I think Apple was smart to exclude such things. All of that "live" stuff may look cool but it's a huge battery drain.

AFMasterSergeant · Nov 30, 2012

ardchoille said:
Agreed. I think Apple was smart to exclude such things. All of that "live" stuff may look cool but it's a huge battery drain.

With that being said...do you think it would great if apple created shortcuts by way of icons to turn on/off bluetooth, wifi etc...rather than going from screen to screen to disable or enable these functions? That's really all I would like to see...and I think by doing so it would be an easier way to control battery life. Most people, me included just leave it on, I know that sounds lazy but it seems like it would be a quick fix and make thing easier, hey that's why the iPhone really is right, a simple and easy to use device.

Deckyon · Nov 30, 2012

Actually, I would like to be able to hit an icon on the phone and toggle my different radios off and on. Sure, it is only a couple presses to do the same thing in the Settings, but it wold be nice.

As to "live" icons and wallpaper - too much processing and battery to give away to something that is, for me, useless.

Ralfj · Dec 8, 2012

I would like static icon, but live wallpaper, it looks cool

Lightingguy · Dec 8, 2012

AFMasterSergeant said:
With that being said...do you think it would great if apple created shortcuts by way of icons to turn on/off bluetooth, wifi etc...rather than going from screen to screen to disable or enable these functions? That's really all I would like to see...and I think by doing so it would be an easier way to control battery life. Most people, me included just leave it on, I know that sounds lazy but it seems like it would be a quick fix and make thing easier, hey that's why the iPhone really is right, a simple and easy to use device.

In Android those are known as Widgets and they were useful. I had BT, WiFi, Airplane and GPS widgets on my HTC. It did make it faster to access those functions.

But.

I needed to access those functions regularly to save on battery life in the Android environment. I don't on my 4S, the batter life is much better. I don't have any BT devices, so leave it off. GPS I leave on and it makes the apps that need it launch and function faster and I'm not be being reminded that GPS is Off, do I want to turn it on ?. I only went into Airplane when I had no cell service (my old office) and again, the battery life was dismal in Android as the phone was constantly trying to connect. The 4S battery doesn't drain as quickly so I leave Airplane mode alone.

So after 3 mos of iPhone versus 2 years on Android, I no longer miss Widgets.

hookbill · Dec 8, 2012

On an iPhone you press the settings button then you press bluetooth then on or off. On an Android you go to the screen that has the widget, press the widget. Easier? Yes, but it just isn't enough to make me want to go back to Android.

I loved my live wall paper on my Android phone but now that I know how to put a cool background on my phone I don't miss the wallpaper at all.

The thing I like about and iPhone is everything is scrutinized by Apple. With Android you have to be careful about apps you download, not in the sense of getting malware, although that's part of it, but more of what it has to access in your phone to work. Off the top of my head I can think of one app, that was Android 2 Cloud to bring a screen from your phone to your computer off the browser. Why in the wold did that need access to my phone contacts and phone?

There's a lot of that stuff in Android and I don't have to think about it with an iPhone.

Silverado8405 · Dec 8, 2012

I used to compare my battery usage between my droid and iPhone until I realized that I have twice as many options on with my iPhone and get better battery. I haven't turn the location services off, nor have I monkeyed with auto brightness. On my droid the GPS was off and screen set to dark and I was still lucky to have 10% at the end of the day.

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