Are you Iphone or Android?

[MightyGiants]

Do you favor iPhones or Android?    I have used both and don't have a favorite, I see pluses and minuses in both product lines.   What do you guys think?  Is there a better choice?  If so, why?

[DaveBrown74]

Iphone, but not because I tried both extensively and picked the better of the two. We're just (rightly or wrongly) tethered to Apple products in my household. While I don't always love the customer service I get from Apple, I have generally been very happy with the products. If that changed, I would explore Samsung more seriously, but to this point I haven't.

[MightyGiants]

Iphone, but not because I tried both extensively and picked the better of the two. We're just (rightly or wrongly) tethered to Apple products in my household. While I don't always love the customer service I get from Apple, I have generally been very happy with the products. If that changed, I would explore Samsung more seriously, but to this point I haven't.

My nephew now works for Apple.  Prior we had a discussion and he talked about how difficult it is to change between Apple and Andriod with the switch to Android being the more difficult move.


I have had both Apple and Android phones.   I did the switch from Andriod to iPhone (not easy took me an entire Sunday afternoon and a couple of purchases of special programs).


Having used both, I see pluses and minuses with each brand.

I think you get more tech for your money with Andriod.  I like the Android keyboard better.

I think physically Androids are better phones (I had multiple Androids and never a problem.  With iPhone I had to trade up because of problems after a little over 2 years)

I like the iPhone messenger better

iPhones are easier to migrate from phone to phone than Android.

[T200]

I have used both extensively. I am a huge techie and like getting under the hood to have things my way.

I started out on the 2nd generation iPhone and had them up until 2015 when I switched to Android. As an iPhone user, my two main issues with Apple were the lack of storage upgrade options (aside from buying an entirely new device) and lack of customization and personalization.

Once I figured out how to jailbreak my iPhones, I did it all the time for a couple of reasons: to install software (legitimate) that didn't make it through the Apple Store process and to customize more than Apple IOS would allow. I don't like a lot of clutter on my desktop and prefer to have folders to group similar apps. Early IOS versions would not allow users to create and nest folders to store apps. The more apps you had installed, you'd have to swipe several pages of screens to find what you wanted. Additionally, a lot of the apps/features I installed after jailbreaking were already either standard in Android or were available to install.

Still, I stayed with Apple for the hardware stability and reliability. There were too many iterations and flavors of modified Android operating systems by each hardware manufacturer. The last straw for me with Apple was the limited amount of storage. With cameras being able to capture photos and videos at much higher resolution rates, the file sizes grew exponentially as the quality got better. Apps were getting larger as well as the data associated with them. It didn't take long to run out of space on a 16GB iPhone. The only options to get more space on an iPhone was to delete files, offload them to DropBox or Google Drive (iCloud was still being developed), or buy a new device with more capacity. Meanwhile, Android devices had a memory card slot in which you could add double or even triple the storage for a fraction of the cost of a new device.

I switched to Samsung in 2015 and haven't looked back. I'm also firmly entrenched in the Google ecosystem. It's far from perfect but I love the ability to integrate just about every facet of my technical life into my Android. I have set up routines for my lights in Google Home. I can tell Google to remote start my vehicle. I ask Google for the status of my garage door.

For me, the difference between Apple IOS and Android comes down to this: I find that Apple is more user friendly to folks who do not work well with technology or just need the basics. They don't want to tinker or change very much. They just want it to work. They don't do any extras. These are the same people who don't even bother to pair their phone with their automobile's bluetooth because it's too difficult     I know, not all Apple users are like that. There are some Android users who do the same. You know the ones you see driving down the road in a brand new Mercedes having a conversation on speakerphone. 

Those who want to do a little more than just text/email/phone/FaceTime on their devices opt for Android.

I still have a work-issued iPhone. I will say that their facial recognition technology is much better than Samsung's.

[MightyGiants]

I have used both extensively. I am a huge techie and like getting under the hood to have things my way.

I started out on the 2nd generation iPhone and had them up until 2015 when I switched to Android. As an iPhone user, my two main issues with Apple were the lack of storage upgrade options (aside from buying an entirely new device) and lack of customization and personalization.

Once I figured out how to jailbreak my iPhones, I did it all the time for a couple of reasons: to install software (legitimate) that didn't make it through the Apple Store process and to customize more than Apple IOS would allow. I don't like a lot of clutter on my desktop and prefer to have folders to group similar apps. Early IOS versions would not allow users to create and nest folders to store apps. The more apps you had installed, you'd have to swipe several pages of screens to find what you wanted. Additionally, a lot of the apps/features I installed after jailbreaking were already either standard in Android or were available to install.

Still, I stayed with Apple for the hardware stability and reliability. There were too many iterations and flavors of modified Android operating systems by each hardware manufacturer. The last straw for me with Apple was the limited amount of storage. With cameras being able to capture photos and videos at much higher resolution rates, the file sizes grew exponentially as the quality got better. Apps were getting larger as well as the data associated with them. It didn't take long to run out of space on a 16GB iPhone. The only options to get more space on an iPhone was to delete files, offload them to DropBox or Google Drive (iCloud was still being developed), or buy a new device with more capacity. Meanwhile, Android devices had a memory card slot in which you could add double or even triple the storage for a fraction of the cost of a new device.

I switched to Samsung in 2015 and haven't looked back. I'm also firmly entrenched in the Google ecosystem. It's far from perfect but I love the ability to integrate just about every facet of my technical life into my Android. I have set up routines for my lights in Google Home. I can tell Google to remote start my vehicle. I ask Google for the status of my garage door.

For me, the difference between Apple IOS and Android comes down to this: I find that Apple is more user friendly to folks who do not work well with technology or just need the basics. They don't want to tinker or change very much. They just want it to work. They don't do any extras. These are the same people who don't even bother to pair their phone with their automobile's bluetooth because it's too difficult     I know, not all Apple users are like that. There are some Android users who do the same. You know the ones you see driving down the road in a brand new Mercedes having a conversation on speakerphone. 

Those who want to do a little more than just text/email/phone/FaceTime on their devices opt for Android.

I still have a work-issued iPhone. I will say that their facial recognition technology is much better than Samsung's.

Agree about the facial rec.   I have a work Samsung and a personal Iphone and the Iphone almost never fails to work while the Samsung fails as often as it works

[Jolly Blue Giant]

Personally, I hate phones that go with you wherever you are. I miss the day when the phone was attached to the wall and had a cord...although, the cordless home phones were a bit of a blessing. I miss not having to answer a call and knowing that the people will call back again when I am home. I also liked the caller ID and voice mail in case the call was urgent, but that's where my love of phones ends.

I have never used an Iphone because they are so expensive. All my kids and a couple of my grandkids use Iphones. I don't love or live for a freakin phone. I get calls on my cell phone at the least opportune times (checking out at a store, going to bathroom, in an important conversation, golfing, etc.) and I can't remember a single call on my cell phone that was urgent. I recall when my son came home from Iraq and we were gathered in the living room with his sisters. All of them were on their cell phones and I finally said, "put those f....g things down - your brother who you haven't seen in over a year and is heading back is right here. Whoever you are texting or whatever you are watching can wait until later. You only get to see each other once in a great while now". Anyway, it irks me to see people who are socially unavailable because their faces are glued to a phone. When I got my vaccination in Syracuse Fair Grounds a couple months ago we were instructed to sit in this enormous waiting room for 15 minutes after our shot. Probably 200 chairs spaced more than 6 feet apart where people sat to wait their 15 minutes. Every person in the room was glued to their cell phone except me and this elderly Asian woman. I thought, what a waste of life.

Anyway, I always buy the cheapest decent phone I can get that is unlocked. Right now I have a Samsung A20s that I got on Woot after my last phone bit the dust. I only use it for phone calls or occasional texting. It supposedly has a decent camera that I might use if I see something worth taking a picture of. One of the things I use the camera for is taking a picture of the fine print on something in the store so I can blow it up on my phone and actually read it without digging out my reading glasses. So anyway, I have only used Android. It doesn't blow me away. It's just used as a phone and occasionally answering a text. Oh yeah, the one app I actually use is the flashlight when I can't see something in the dark. That's a nice thing I guess.

[DaveBrown74]

Personally, I hate phones that go with you wherever you are. I miss the day when the phone was attached to the wall and had a cord...although, the cordless home phones were a bit of a blessing. I miss not having to answer a call and knowing that the people will call back again when I am home. I also liked the caller ID and voice mail in case the call was urgent, but that's where my love of phones ends.

I have never used an Iphone because they are so expensive. All my kids and a couple of my grandkids use Iphones. I don't love or live for a freakin phone. I get calls on my cell phone at the least opportune times (checking out at a store, going to bathroom, in an important conversation, golfing, etc.) and I can't remember a single call on my cell phone that was urgent. I recall when my son came home from Iraq and we were gathered in the living room with his sisters. All of them were on their cell phones and I finally said, "put those f....g things down - your brother who you haven't seen in over a year and is heading back is right here. Whoever you are texting or whatever you are watching can wait until later. You only get to see each other once in a great while now". Anyway, it irks me to see people who are socially unavailable because their faces are glued to a phone. When I got my vaccination in Syracuse Fair Grounds a couple months ago we were instructed to sit in this enormous waiting room for 15 minutes after our shot. Probably 200 chairs spaced more than 6 feet apart where people sat to wait their 15 minutes. Every person in the room was glued to their cell phone except me and this elderly Asian woman. I thought, what a waste of life.

Anyway, I always buy the cheapest decent phone I can get that is unlocked. Right now I have a Samsung A20s that I got on Woot after my last phone bit the dust. I only use it for phone calls or occasional texting. It supposedly has a decent camera that I might use if I see something worth taking a picture of. One of the things I use the camera for is taking a picture of the fine print on something in the store so I can blow it up on my phone and actually read it without digging out my reading glasses. So anyway, I have only used Android. It doesn't blow me away. It's just used as a phone and occasionally answering a text. Oh yeah, the one app I actually use is the flashlight when I can't see something in the dark. That's a nice thing I guess.

I don't particularly like talking on the phone and try to avoid it other than with relatives and certain close friends, but I certainly would not give up my phone. I get the point about being glued to it, and I don't feel I do that, but it comes in handy in just so many ways that I'd be lying if I said I missed a time when we didn't have it. There is no question that they add a lot of convenience to life, and one can use it how often or how little he or she wants. My Dad, who is 78, brings his with him anytime he goes out, but he keeps it powered off and only uses it when he needs to. While I certainly don't do that, I think this is a suitable option for someone who claims they "hate" the phone.

I do agree that people are are buried in their phone constantly all day, texting and checking social media, are probably doing themselves a psychological and social disservice, but IMO there's a difference between that type of behavior and having a phone as a handy modern convenience.

[MightyGiants]

Before there were cell phones I would be on call for my job at the hospital.   Back then you would get a beeper that literally just beeped and I would have to call the hospital switchboard after I had found a payphone (boy did I use to carry a ton of change with me back in those days).    So having a cell phone was a huge boon to me and I got one as soon as they were no longer tied to cars.

Oddly enough, I was not an early adopter of smartphones.   I figured I had a desk job and I had a computer at home.   I saw little to justify the what cost back then about a $1000 a year to upgrade to a smartphone.

My new job issued me a blackberry so I was sort of getting pushed in that direction, though.    Eventually, I broke down and got a smartphone.   For me, it was a life-changing type device

JBG talked about having to wait after getting vaccinated.  I see the waste of life, but for me, it was waiting in lines, in waiting rooms, etc, and having nothing to do.  Smartphones changed that. 

Of course, a full keyboard and predictive text made texting easier and frankly young people are all about texting and I can see why..  In many ways, it resolves the issues JBG mentioned in terms of interrupting people at bad times

Adding apps like Waze (the navigation app with finally quality real-time traffic taken into account) was a game-changer when driving in the ever-crowded roads of NJ.  The ability to attach to his forum via the phone was another really nice feature.

Amazon made shopping a game-changer.  Suddenly I found myself shopping anywhere at any time and needs were often met in a day or two.   

Being a very intellectually curious type, the ability to look up anything at any time was another wonderful life improvement.

I am not a big picture taker, but even a camera can come in handy.  It's a great way to see the back of your head or if you are looking at hats where there are no mirrors.   If I am trying to get a serial number of a piece of equipment a camera sure comes in handy


As for social media, I tend to agree with DB.   It's something one needs to be careful of (at least Facebook, as I use Twitter mostly for news).   There are way too many people who feel the need to make their lives look better on social media and too many people who don't realize that is happening.

[Sem]

I started out with Android phones. Then my employer wanted to buy me a business phone, my option between the two. I opted for a iPhone, if nothing more than to have one of each so I could get used to both types. When my personal phone started giving me trouble I replaced it with an iPhone. To me there's not a ton of difference between the two platforms, but I do slightly prefer the iPhone.