I was a teenage switcher to Android
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The main reason I lock mine is because I don't want my nosy kids on there.
A lot of times the "swipe down" or "swipe <direction>" in general require that your finger start from off the screen's surface, outside the screen's sensing area.
--Patrick
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Here's another thing I don't like about Android: the community. Well the journalistic community. The Apple feeds are all upbeat and hopeful, like "Look at this neat new thing", but the Android feeds (e.g. Android Authority, Android Central) are mostly, "Oh gee look who did us wrong today!"
See, I think that the Apple "media" are a bunch of fawning sycophants who throw their money at Apple for only the barest of reasons, whereas the Android media is realistic about the pros and cons of what they're reviewing.
I fully acknowledge that we may both be seeing exactly the same articles and commenting differently on them. It may be our own biases showing up.
Clearly, one of you is Right, and the other is Wrong.
Fixed.
(Full disclosure, I bailed on my old Evo when the 4S came out. Got tired of the delays in updating the OS. Tired of phone makers replacing stock apps with their own that didn't work as well. Tired of my flagship phone getting left in the dust after barely 6 months. Is it any better now? Are we out of the root or die era?)
GasBandit
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I would say "only if you can afford to buy your phone separate from your carrier." Which is becoming more of a thing, but still will run you 4-600 bucks (or more) depending on the model you want.
Phones you get with your contract from Verizon/AT&T are still the same story. And that's a genuine problem with the android marketplace.
If you don't try to get the best phone to begin with, you don't feel like you're sinking fast 
Me, my wife, my brother, his wife, and my mom are all extremely satisfied with the Moto E/G/X series. If it gets too bad, the cost to upgrade is minimal.
Me, my wife, my brother, his wife, and my mom are all extremely satisfied with the Moto E/G/X series. If it gets too bad, the cost to upgrade is minimal.
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NONONONONONO. Not for samsung anyway. Oh believe me. The Unlocked model was the absolute last to get Nougat, and we still haven't gotten the June security patch. All the carriers got the updates first. And man, were the unlocked customers pissed. The rumor is that the carrier phones got updates first because of deals with Samsung.
GasBandit
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Well, yeah, in general principle I wouldn't buy a samsung, personally, even unlocked. They're the "Dell" of Android devices.
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I really do miss my iPhone, though. I had given my 5 year old iPhone 5 to my daughter, and I pick it up, and it is still noticeably faster than my Galaxy S7. It can sometimes take a second or 3 for apps to start on my Samsung, but even on the old iPhone, the same apps still start instantaneously. Safari is greased lightning compared to Chrome. Yes, I have read the technical reasons behind this, and how it relates to the iPhone's lack of true multitasking--which I notice very little difference with on the Android anyway. I think next phone I'm going back to Apple. Everything feels clunkier and more roundabout on Android. Clearly, this is to satisfy the multitude of hardware models, but I still don't like it in a phone. I couldn't get two farts about customization. I treat my phone's OS as a go-between for starting apps. I don't care what it looks like. I don't care about UI tweaks or "faster" launchers (really, how slow is it to push a button with an app name on it).
I used to get anywhere from 2-4 days on my iPhone 5 until the battery got old (it was NOT one of the ones that got replaced for free under the program). So I had a new battery put in it and I'm back to 2-4 days on a full charge.
...this could be because I demand so very little of my phone. Just maybe.
--Patrick
...this could be because I demand so very little of my phone. Just maybe.
--Patrick
I was just wondering what your verdict was, having been on both parts of "the grass is always greener..."
My iphone 6+ is nearly 3 years old, so I'm planning on upgrading this fall, and while I'm aiming for the iPhone 8 (whatever their flagship will be) I was going to spend some serious time looking at android just before the iphone release in case the next iphone wasn't all that and a bag of kittens.
I've been on both sides of the fence now as well, and - while I've been limited to Samsung for my Android experience, the S7 - I have to agree with Fade on this one. Everything just seems to take longer on the Samsungs than it did on the iPhone 5s's that we upgraded from. In fact, if my wife's iPhone hadn't completely crapped out (the mic died, so if she didn't have a headset it couldn't be a phone anymore), I'd almost consider going back to them, but we still owe about $1k on the stupid Samsung phones. And it isn't just the actual loading time from when I tap the icon to when it opens, it's the extra steps that you have to take to do things - especially since an upgrade back in Q1 or so of this year. If I want to use video voicemail I have to open it separately from the phone "call" system, and it can't remember contact names worth a damn; plus, sometimes it just doesn't work at all and I have to call the vmail number through AT&T and retrieve the message the old fashioned way. Before the upgrade mentioned above, if I got a text message, I could tap on the notification on the lock screen and swipe it to go directly to the message. Now, doing that just takes you to all of your notifications and then you have to tap that notification again, which takes you to a screen that says "Swipe screen to open", after which you will finally be taken to the message. Why would I want to see all of my notifications AGAIN and re-pick which one I wanted to respond to?
Then you have the Apple iMessage advantage - Android may have a messaging app with the same functionality, but it's not the default. In the same update that killed notification ease-of-use, they also changed the amount of time that the screen could be lit without opening the OS from the lock screen - not the amount of time that it was lit by default, the amount of time that it could be lit for. Originally you could set it to whatever you wanted, and the default was around 6 seconds; after the update your choices were 1.5 seconds or 3 seconds. And it isn't just that the screen goes dark again either. No, it also kicks you out of anything you were entering. So, if you have a PIN set up on it, or your thumbprint, it's usually ok; but if you have a password set up, or if you've rebooted your phone, or if it's just been 24 hours since you opened it, if the password is too long it can time out while entering it and you get to start again and hope your fingers are nimbler the next time around (that behavior seems to have stopped though, so it may have been a bug). I've never used it in split screen mode, so the availability of multi-tasking is meaningless to me; and in the 9 months I've had it, I've only used the headphone jack once, so Apple's removal of it really shouldn't bother me that much. Also - as much as this really shouldn't be a big issue to me - it really, really bugs me that I can't permanently nuke Samsung Pay off of the damn thing, or at least permanently disable it. My credit union is never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever going to offer Samsung Pay support. I know this. I've asked. They won't do it. Please, for the love of god, let me get rid of this stupid app. It's like Windows Compatibility Telemetry for crying out loud!
Then you have the Apple iMessage advantage - Android may have a messaging app with the same functionality, but it's not the default. In the same update that killed notification ease-of-use, they also changed the amount of time that the screen could be lit without opening the OS from the lock screen - not the amount of time that it was lit by default, the amount of time that it could be lit for. Originally you could set it to whatever you wanted, and the default was around 6 seconds; after the update your choices were 1.5 seconds or 3 seconds. And it isn't just that the screen goes dark again either. No, it also kicks you out of anything you were entering. So, if you have a PIN set up on it, or your thumbprint, it's usually ok; but if you have a password set up, or if you've rebooted your phone, or if it's just been 24 hours since you opened it, if the password is too long it can time out while entering it and you get to start again and hope your fingers are nimbler the next time around (that behavior seems to have stopped though, so it may have been a bug). I've never used it in split screen mode, so the availability of multi-tasking is meaningless to me; and in the 9 months I've had it, I've only used the headphone jack once, so Apple's removal of it really shouldn't bother me that much. Also - as much as this really shouldn't be a big issue to me - it really, really bugs me that I can't permanently nuke Samsung Pay off of the damn thing, or at least permanently disable it. My credit union is never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever going to offer Samsung Pay support. I know this. I've asked. They won't do it. Please, for the love of god, let me get rid of this stupid app. It's like Windows Compatibility Telemetry for crying out loud!
I don't own an Android phone (The only smartphone I've ever owned so far is the iPhone 5 I mentioned earlier), but I'll be looking to upgrade soon as well because my aforementioned iPhone 5 will be losing app support soon - The newest version of the Skype app has already told me it won't update because is no longer compatible with my device, and the deadline isn't actually until this Fall.
As far as Android goes, I was looking at investigating the Essential phone, but the only carrier it's going to start with is ... Sprint? Some of the OnePlus models look interesting, though of course I don't understand all the Android-specific features, and I've never had to go exploring through their app store.
--Patrick
Got a new iPad to replace the old one after the wife had a rather interesting "accident" involving toenail clippers and the screen (don't ask, I haven't figured it out either).
There are two major differences between the new iPad and my NextBook: much much much faster, and hella more storage space (even without an external drive). Those two things by themselves make the differences between iOS and Android that much more jarring.
The differences in things you can do on each tablet is minimal enough that the edge still goes to Apple.
There are two major differences between the new iPad and my NextBook: much much much faster, and hella more storage space (even without an external drive). Those two things by themselves make the differences between iOS and Android that much more jarring.
The differences in things you can do on each tablet is minimal enough that the edge still goes to Apple.
Pondering switching to Virgin Mobile for their current promotion. They are only supporting iPhones from now on. Buuuuut we would just be going for the basic iPhone 6, which is a 3 year old phone. That is somewhat off-putting.
You can now get an iPad Pro with 256GB storage for $750...which is $250 less than you can buy a 13in MacBook Air (an actual computer) with only 128GB storage.
--Patrick
Intel isn't quaking in their boots yet, but the arm processors Apple has been implementing for their mobile devices are equivalent computing power to the mid grade intel cpus three years ago.
And they consume far, far less power than the older quad core i5 processors.
I'm not sure how they compare with the latest processors in the high end android phones, but from what I've seen and heard it looks like Apple has the best balance between battery life and performance. I'll be looking more carefully at that later this summer.
And they consume far, far less power than the older quad core i5 processors.
I'm not sure how they compare with the latest processors in the high end android phones, but from what I've seen and heard it looks like Apple has the best balance between battery life and performance. I'll be looking more carefully at that later this summer.
Hah ha, whoops! Looks like they backpedaled. Another update was released today, and the release notes basically say, "The app now works with any device capable of running iOS 9, not just 64-bit ones."
Looks like someone must've forgotten a compiler flag.
--Patrick
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Yeah, this is a pretty good summary of my experiences, too. Everything was just plain easier on the iPhone. I get the power/ease trade-off. But considering I've never really touched any of those features since playing with them the first week, I'm cool with that.
Also on this side of the fence I can see even more clearly that people attack the iPhone constantly for things that simply aren't true. Every single time Apple announces a new feature, everyone over here goes nuts that it's been in Android for years. What they really mean is that someone made a third party app that does that years ago. This ignores the fact that Apple merely means it's now part of the core OS, not that there was never a 3rd party app that does it. Probably the same app from the same devs.[DOUBLEPOST=1498830852,1498830771][/DOUBLEPOST]Note: despite saying all this, I still stand by the claim that they're 99.9% identical. It's just that I enjoy the .1% difference on the iPhone more.
GasBandit
Staff member
Android's definitely a crapshoot sometimes. Come to think of it, Every android device I've owned has been made objectively worse by every single major operating system update.
My Droid 1 became so slow as to be unusable from the next version it got.
My Nexus 7 tablet? The update from Froyo to Gingerbread made it almost unusable, and attempting to remedy that bricked it, by which point I was too disgustipated to mess with it any more.
Besides, I had an LG3 at that point, which was big enough to no longer really need a 7 inch tabliet... until the next version of android came out and ground its performance into the dirt, at which point I reapplied the factory image and to this day refuse to let the system update run (every time I reboot it, it notifies me of the new android version, and I tell it "later" and it says "ok I'll do the update at 1 am" and then I go into the application list and force-close the update app).
The bluetooth on my LG3 has been failing intermittently of late and experiencing bizarre battery drain problems, which makes me think it's time for a new phone, and with my recent windfall, the time is probably right... but looking at the latest offerings (the Pixel and whatnot) actually fills me with ennui and dread. Even the leaks of the upcoming Pixel 2 series don't excite me, as they croon about features I don't care about (or actively dislike) and don't talk about stuff I want to know.
My Droid 1 became so slow as to be unusable from the next version it got.
My Nexus 7 tablet? The update from Froyo to Gingerbread made it almost unusable, and attempting to remedy that bricked it, by which point I was too disgustipated to mess with it any more.
Besides, I had an LG3 at that point, which was big enough to no longer really need a 7 inch tabliet... until the next version of android came out and ground its performance into the dirt, at which point I reapplied the factory image and to this day refuse to let the system update run (every time I reboot it, it notifies me of the new android version, and I tell it "later" and it says "ok I'll do the update at 1 am" and then I go into the application list and force-close the update app).
The bluetooth on my LG3 has been failing intermittently of late and experiencing bizarre battery drain problems, which makes me think it's time for a new phone, and with my recent windfall, the time is probably right... but looking at the latest offerings (the Pixel and whatnot) actually fills me with ennui and dread. Even the leaks of the upcoming Pixel 2 series don't excite me, as they croon about features I don't care about (or actively dislike) and don't talk about stuff I want to know.
GasBandit
Staff member
I suspect it might have been something to do with it being verizon-branded (and locked), so using their flavor of android.
I do have my eye on the G6. Unlocked this time.
My only reservation is that the battery life on my G3, even when it was new, was never great. I'm always under 50% power when I come home from work, with only light-moderate use (no gaming or forum browsing), and even at 30% screen brightness it felt like I'd get, at best, 5 hours of battery life of constant use... and lately, that's dropped to 3.
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I just ordered the OnePlus 5. It uses a pretty vanilla Android install. Take a look!
Ahh yeah, you guys have that sort of thing. As far as I can tell, mine are just stock Android with a couple of my provider's useless apps tossed in.
GasBandit
Staff member
What's your opinion on OxygenOS? I'm inclined to want vanilla android at this point.[DOUBLEPOST=1499454074,1499453891][/DOUBLEPOST]
Verizon's android has really been a mixed bag. I mean, yeah, there's that problem with updates making it dog slow, but I like their visual voicemail and sms apps. I like being able to read transcripts of my voicemails, and I like that I have text autoreplies of "I'm driving right now, and can't reply to your text" that automatically go active when I get in my car and my G3 sees my stereo's bluetooth connection. I'll miss all those things when I go vanilla, but I'm tired of being held hostage to one of the most dastardly and tech-backwards providers in the world.
I tend to like minimalist, so I suspect I will like it (when I get my hands on it...I literally just ordered it 10 minutes ago).
Update and micro-review of the OnePlus 5:
It's great. This is easily the most powerful phone I've ever used. The custom Android OS does not get in your way. It uses a drawer that you pull up from the bottom to access your apps library and it has a screen you can swipe to with mail and messages and whatnot that so far I have not used at all, but the rest is very much raw Android. The thing I have had to get used to the most is the 3 hardware Android buttons that I've previously used as on-screen buttons. The learning curve there is very shallow, of course. The screen is bright, the audio quality is crisp, and I find the fingerprint unlock to be a more efficient way to get into my phone than any other method. I also get a signal in my office, which I haven't gotten for ANY previous phone. I haven't used the Android Pay feature yet, but I'm willing to give it a go. Also, it uses USB-C, which is nice as it is fast and I don't have to switch the cable three times trying to plug it in. In short, it feels like an upgrade over my previous (decent quality) Android phone experiences.
It's great. This is easily the most powerful phone I've ever used. The custom Android OS does not get in your way. It uses a drawer that you pull up from the bottom to access your apps library and it has a screen you can swipe to with mail and messages and whatnot that so far I have not used at all, but the rest is very much raw Android. The thing I have had to get used to the most is the 3 hardware Android buttons that I've previously used as on-screen buttons. The learning curve there is very shallow, of course. The screen is bright, the audio quality is crisp, and I find the fingerprint unlock to be a more efficient way to get into my phone than any other method. I also get a signal in my office, which I haven't gotten for ANY previous phone. I haven't used the Android Pay feature yet, but I'm willing to give it a go. Also, it uses USB-C, which is nice as it is fast and I don't have to switch the cable three times trying to plug it in. In short, it feels like an upgrade over my previous (decent quality) Android phone experiences.