iphone upgrade

[devswap]

Hi all

I have had the last 2 iphones and like them but have an android tablet and love the customisations I can do and the general interface. Hence I am considering an android phone for my next upgrade due in Aug. I would welcome comments off people who may have had iphones and switched to android or people who are pro android and want to make any comments. I dont want comments like iphones are sh** though - good constructive comments please.

My main concerns are over battery utilisation - my iphone can take a hammering with browsing, some texts and using twitter and over 10 hours still have 50 - 60% left - is android as good. My galaxy tab 2 seems to have battery utilisation that goes up and down and I need to closely monitor which apps are running in the background otherwise the battery gets used rapidly. Other concerns are stability - one area where the iphone shines is running satnav software (I use co-pilot). I never have any issues and on android you see its supporting 250+ devices but I worry whether on the new nexus and galaxy whether it will be supported well etc.

How quickly do os updates get sent to the phone and when they do - how well do they run - is it that there are hundreds of glitches that need solving following an update being released?

Enough waffle from me - comments welcome

Thanks

 

[andrews317]

According to what you say, you need a Nexus. Maybe the battery won't be that good, iPhones screen is smaller and that could be a plus for the battery.

 

[steslatt]

I recently converted a friend from the iphone 4S to the N4. He loves it and said he would never go back. A couple of things he mentioned were that the headphone volume is a lot lower on the n4 and battery is noticeably better on the iphone. As for sat nav he said the n4 is a lot better due to extra features.

 

[devswap]

Thanks for the replies. Why is the N4 better for satnav - what are the extra features - more accurate gps?
Andrews: why do you say I need the nexus - what of what I have said put you off the samsung for me?

 

[steslatt]

Well my friend makes a lot of deliveries and he managed to get a program to work out optimum routes then imports them into google sat nav. He said he couldn't do that with his iphone.

 

[MartinS]

I had an iPhone 3G and then switched to Android. I have had a few since including all of the Nexus phones. I still have a 3rd Gen (I think) iPod touch so can see what is going on with iOS.

I'll never say never because I don't think iPhones are bad as such but for me the platform has really stood still while Android has moved on and overtaken. These days my iPod Touch literally lives in the car where it is used through the car's interface.

For me iOS had become boring. I like to fiddle around with settings, widgets, appearance and just couldn't with the iPhone. I've since stopped with rooting and flashing ROMs on Android and leave it stock, but it's still nice to use a launcher and various widgets, icon packs and so on to change the appearance of the Nexus. All things I couldn't do on an iPhone.

Sure some things are more simple on iOS for the average user, but I think that then becomes the problem for users who require more. You're limited more by how Apple want you to use the device.

I also don't miss iTunes - Horrible!

Good luck with your choice. Obviously by August there will be many other devices out there. If you want to remain with stock Android for quick updates, the upcoming Motorola X Phone may be interesting. If it's for now then I have no hesitation in recommending the N4.

 

[charliecc]

I switched to Android (Galaxy Nexus), after having owned the iPhone 3g and 4.

I would now probably choose about 50 phones ahead of the iPhone 5 if I could pick any phone, and first on the list would be my trusty Nexus 4. I won't go into reasons why, but IMO Android trumps iOS in almost every area.

You are correct though, battery life is def a bit worse on Android, but my Nexus 4 does pretty well, I get about 2 days out of it with light use, a day with heavy use.

WRT to co-pilot, I had it on iOS and now on Android. It's just as stable on Android in my experience.

A little tip for you as well. I paid for co-pilot on iOS. Then when I switched to Android I tried out the free version (co-pilot GPS), which is like the paid version but with missing features, such as voice guidance.

The free version can be upgraded and is basically the same as the paid version once this has been done. I used my license from the iOS version on the free Android version, and it worked, I then got the missing features. One less barrier to OS switch

There's only 1 thing I miss from iOS, and that's the seamless switch from one iPhone to another. Android just haven't got that down yet.

 

[SiempreTuna]

I guess not having to worry about background apps is one advantage of having really dire multi-tasking - I'm surprised the isn't an Apple ad about it .. or a lawsuit claiming to 'own' the idea

My other half's iP4 does seem to get better battery life than my N4, but the difference can't be that great as they both need to be charged each day.

As for Co-Pilot, I'm sure that if it's supported by the majority of Droids, it will work on an N4. I just wonder why you would need Co-Pilot: Google maps on Android gives you excellent turn by turn directions. It really works very well - better than the version of Route66 which I used on a previous phone. The only downside is that you need a network connection.

As for the GPS, it finds locations faster than on any other phone I've had - which is about the only thing variable you can compare. GPS accuracy is limited for non-military applications. If you want something better, you'd need to steal the GPS unit from something like a cruise missile ..