Android or iPhone?

[Shauni]

I'm finally getting a phone soon and I can't decide on if I want an Android or an iPhone.

Are there any real dealbreaker pros and cons to the software on either of them? Hardware-wise? This is the time I'm ever getting a phone so I'm extremely ignorant about these things. I'm assuming that I'll be getting the latest model of either of them.

Edited June 14, 2014 by Shauni

[DragonLord]

Well, Android is quite diverse, in terms of the many phones that run it. So it really depends what specific brand you are willing to go with.

In terms of hardware, iPhones generally have better build quality in my opinion, but specs-wise, they tend to be beaten by some of the newer releases of Android phones. I'm a Galaxy Nexus user, and I find it to be quite reliable despite its age.

In terms of software, it really depends what you want. If you want ease of access and simplicity, iPhone is the way to go. If you want customization and mods for your phone, Android would be your choice.

It all really depends, since there are so many Android phones to choose from. Try to narrow it down and single out a specific Android device to compare with the newest version of the iPhone.

[Jiac]

My vote is somewhat neutral.

Apple has an easier user-friendly interface that a 3 year old can use and figure out, while having entertaining features.

Android has a somewhat more complicated interface that is completely customizable. and have similar features to Apple.

So if you want simplicity go with Apple, if you want to edit your GUI to your desire, go Android, as their stores are similar enough you'll likely have the same apps.

EDIT: Dragonlord nailed it but I didn't read his post before writing :/

Edited June 14, 2014 by Jiac2001

[eclipse]

I own a flip phone, so take what I say with a salt shaker.

Android: Great if you don't like Apple's "walled garden", but you'll have to deal with malware. I suggest lots of research before installing apps.

Apple: Their app store is a lot more strict, so you don't have to worry as much about malware slipping in. If someone gets into your iCloud, though, you risked being legit locked out of your own phone. I personally don't care for iTunes, because it takes forever to do what I want.

Verdict: How much freedom do you want?

[MercyWalk]

Unless you're downloading ridiculously dodgy apps you are not going to get any malware

I also fucking hate itunes for multiple reasons. The android interface is a little bigger while everything on the iphone to me is pretty compact but it probably won't matter if you get used to it. There is no one standard "Android" model unlike the Iphone so there's a lot more variation there, however there are generally a few well regarded ones at any given point.

Honestly, I don't really keep up to date for phones, all I do when I get a new one is get the price range i'm willing to spend at, google the top phones around that range and just look at the pros and cons, hardware and software is constantly changing on phones so it's never a solid decision of "Android" or Iphone

[mewyeon]

Androids are a lot more customizable, if that's something that you're looking for. I feel like iphones have basically no customizable options other than wallpaper and stuff like that. If you use a lot of mac products though...like you have an ipod, an apple laptop, etc, I think an iphone would be a good choice. It really streamlines everything.

[Wist]

What would you anticipate using your phone for?

[Raven]

iPhones (so in turn, iOS) will become slow, sluggish and unresponsive the more you use them.

I've had my SII for over 2 years, and it's as fast and responsive as it was on the first day I had it.

Source: I owned an iPhone 3G for 2 years before getting my Galaxy SII.

I'm never going back to iPhone.

[Phoenix Wright]

I own a flip phone, so take what I say with a salt shaker.

Android: Great if you don't like Apple's "walled garden", but you'll have to deal with malware. I suggest lots of research before installing apps.

Apple: Their app store is a lot more strict, so you don't have to worry as much about malware slipping in. If someone gets into your iCloud, though, you risked being legit locked out of your own phone. I personally don't care for iTunes, because it takes forever to do what I want.

Verdict: How much freedom do you want?

haha, malware isn't much of a problem even if you venture from the play store. it exists, yes, but it's not really a risk that one should decide to go to apple instead.

and itunes is horrific.

Apple has an easier user-friendly interface that a 3 year old can use and figure out

this pretty much only used to be true. now the main difference is that one has an app/widget tray, whilst the other just lays out all the apps on the display. some companies, *cough* samsung, have made it their duty to oversimplify the android interface, in my opinion.

to op,

i stay pretty much with the current market in terms of cell phones. my advice is to go android: more options, more control, and more bang for your buck if you buy the right phone (moto x, one m8, nexus 5).

Edited June 16, 2014 by Phoenix Wright

[Elieson]

Yea, I'd support Android too.

iPhone doesn't do as much, but the things it does, it does a little better IMO. I use my droid for a lot of things, many of which iPhones don't easily handle.

Also, I don't like owning phones that have the front and back made entirely out of Glass (but there are cases, so meh).

Edited June 16, 2014 by Elieson

[Fruity Insanity]

Android has SNES emulators, PSP emulators, GameBoy emulators, DS emulators, N64 emulators, NES emulators

And expandable memory. (Because I don't want to pay $100 more dollars for a 32 GB iPhone when I can buy Android and a 128 gig micro SD card for that much.)

Specs-wise, iPhone is... I dunno... pretty bad...?

I mean, the 5S still has 1GB of RAM, which compared to - say - the Note III (which has 3GB of RAM), is nothing.

It also doesn't even have a 1080p screen. Unlike literally every flagship Android phone on the market right now. Nexus, Galaxy S, HTC One, Sony Xperia, they're all pretty decent phones.

But really, expandable memory, the option for more customization, and more emulators is the reason I dropped iOS...

Granted, Apple's new OS is rather pretty... as is its design...

Oh, and I believe Android phones usually have a 16:9 screen ratio, so watching videos on them is better, too...

[Thor Odinson]

Well if you're a mac user, you could go with the iOS8 + OSX.10 thing. Thought that looked pretty interesting.

Otherwise, I use an android because I can't afford an iphone since I don't use plans, but it could be different in your case. I can't really speak for iphone, though, since I've never used one. For android, I'm very fond of its customizability. I pretty much turned mine into having the Assassin's Creed Revelations interface. It's pretty great.

[AMCC4728]

Blackberry

I've owned both. I prefer Android because of ease of customization. Also, this may be just personal experience so take it with a grain of salt but my iphone's screens always broke and that is why I replaced them and I have never had an Android screen break. This might just be because I used Androids at an older age though.

[Shauni]

Thanks for the responses. I'm definitely going for an Android of some sort seeing as I would prefer more customization and Fruity Insanity's post pretty much sealed the deal. Now the only question is: which one?

Edited June 17, 2014 by Shauni

[Melissa]

iPhone 5S, but I wish I had an Android

[Phoenix Wright]

Thanks for the responses. I'm definitely going for an Android of some sort seeing as I would prefer more customization and Fruity Insanity's post pretty much sealed the deal. Now the only question is: which one?

what are you looking for? size? power? both?

[jiodi]

Hooold the phone here (ehehehehe, get it?)

I've been using Android, and despise Apple products on principle, and not cause I work at Microsoft, cause I enjoy being able to deep dive into the guts of the products I buy if I so choose.

This, however, is a double-edged sword. The beauty of open source also has this ugly face where you come to realize any joe jackass can write terrible awful code and have it work its way into your shit.

Best example is when you bring up specs. iPhones are not worse than competing Android phones when it comes to specs.

Take the Galaxy S5 vs iPhone 5S or whatever it's at now. The galaxy has a better camera but whether it actually takes better quality photos and video is arguable. This is due to the software on top of the great hardware just not being as solid.

All these Android phones with quad core processors and crazy fucking insane 03984230984 core processors or whatever actually are outperformed by the iPhone 5s' dual-core processor. But why!? It's cause everyone developing for Android doesn't seem to fucking understand how to utilize cores in a meaningful way, which actually hurts your performance, even if you've got all those fancy cores. Also, this iPhone uses a 64-bit chip. Which is a factor.

Don't believe me? Check out this article from 2013: http://www.idownloadblog.com/2013/09/19/iphone-5ss-64-bit-a7-chip-apparently-still-dual-core-chip-expert-concludes/

Ultimately, you should think about what OS would feel better. Despite my gripes, I am still an Android guy, but iPhones are no slouches. If you enjoy the excellent design, brilliant architecture from the hardware on up, knowing that your iPhone master controls your life and you aren't allowed to know what's going on in its little 64-bit brain and hanging out at Starbucks being pretentious, iPhone is a good choice.

If you would rather have access to the awesome world of open source and freedom and are ready to cut through the jungle of godawful developers creating godawful pieces of shit apps and bloatware not seen since your mom bought her first windows 98 machine, Android is a good choice. If you have the willpower, you can tune your Android device to however you want it. Which is the main selling point for me :)

Also, for the record, Windows phones have come a crazy long way. The UI is sleek and intuitive, the phones are excellent devices and the seamless integration with other windows products is pretty cool, if you're into that sort of thing. I still refuse to get one cause then I'd have to deal with the bullshit store with nothing but crap in it, but it's definitely an option.

edit: ugh words = hard

Edited June 20, 2014 by jiodi

[Phoenix Wright]

that article is too old to be of any use. (phones move too quickly.) well, sort of, the htc m8 is the only contender.

android's architecture needs work, but as you said, that's the beauty of an "open" source project. performance-wise, apple and android are essentially on the same page from the consumer's point of view anyways. with benchmark tests so close to one another, the only people that give a shit about it are people who love to play numbers games--and those people probably prefer android anyway.

it's interesting that you note crapware present in android, but not in ios. it exists in similar volume there as well.

Edited June 20, 2014 by Phoenix Wright

[jiodi]

that article is too old to be of any use. (phones move too quickly.) well, sort of, the htc m8 is the only contender.

android's architecture needs work, but as you said, that's the beauty of an "open" source project. performance-wise, apple and android are essentially on the same page from the consumer's point of view anyways. with benchmark tests so close to one another, the only people that give a shit about it are people who love to play numbers games--and those people probably prefer android anyway.

it's interesting that you note crapware present in android, but not in ios. it exists in similar volume there as well.

The article is not too old for the reason I posted it! There are more current articles about spec comparisons but I wanted to cite a source. What it's referring to is still relevant.

I mentioned bloatware on Android and not iPhone because it feels like more of a problem. There are things I cannot turn off on my Galaxy that I wish I could, because they decided to pull a Microsoft and embed this bullcrap into my phone, like how you could never ever uninstall IE easily on a windows PC. Apple does not allow carrier bloatware to get shipped on their phones. My Galaxy has all this friggin AT&T crap wrapped into my OS like weeds.

I tried to be fair about the recommendations because my personal opinion of FUKC YEW APPLES UR APPLSE R EXPENSIVE might not translate to the needs of the op.

But yeah, Android for sure, you just need patience and you kind of have to baby it to get the most out of it.

[euklyd]

Seconding Jiodi; I would get a phone that's been tampered with by manufacturers as little as possible. Moto X, Nexus 5, etc. are the ones I know of off the top of my head; you'll want to look into this on your own (it sounds like you're in the market for a flagship model).

EDIT: (If you care about memory, Moto X is a worse choice, since it has no SD Card slot.)

I mean, I have one, and I like it just fine, but I'm feeling a bit of a squeeze with the 16 GB model.

Edited June 20, 2014 by Euklyd

[Phoenix Wright]

The article is not too old for the reason I posted it! There are more current articles about spec comparisons but I wanted to cite a source. What it's referring to is still relevant.

But yeah, Android for sure, you just need patience and you kind of have to baby it to get the most out of it.

haha i know, that's why i said the m8 is the only contender. i was just too lazy to edit my post any further. :p

yeah, yeah you do...

i cannot agree more with bloatware. it is single-handedly the most frustrating aspect of android at this point. the galaxy s4, my phone, is partitioned by samsung to use only 9.5gb or something of its storage for apps, of its 16gb. and since this is a custom partition, flashing a new rom and getting rid of the bloatware still leaves me with just a more open partition--because unless i want to take a bigger risk with perma-bricking (i don't), i can't use it for anything. i will never ever buy a samsung phone again for as long as this is how they operate. motorola and google phones from here on out!

Edited June 21, 2014 by Phoenix Wright

[Thor Odinson]

Yeah I use a Moto G because I don't work on plans and it's pretty cheap for a smartphone

Considering its price it's actually pretty nice

[Shauni]

This sounds like some convoluted stuff. Thanks for all of the responses! I'll continue to delve deeper into this.

[キノコ]

I think the build quality issue as a topic is outdated as well... I can't tell you how many more shattered iPhone screens I've seen then I have android device screens. Anything by Samsung has solid build quality anymore. So is the Iphone5, and later. Although I see a lot more scratches and cosmetic damage on the iphone5 due to how pristine they were obsessed about making those beveled edges. Most Samsung products have long rounded edges that don't show wear and tear as fast. But other then, what's already been said, simple UI vs customizable UI, etc. Development for iPhone is easier than Android from my experience as well, if that's a factor in your purchasing decisions. Any more though honestly? Both are great devices, its preferences and things that come down to how you need to use it, like battery life, etc. Personally, I own a Galaxy S5.

Edited June 29, 2014 by キノコ

[Magical CC]

None. I use a stone smashing nokia.