Hi everyone,
I am new to the forum and just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Kevin and I wanted to know everyone's thoughts on whether or not it is worth waiting to see what the iPhone 5 has in store before buying an Android?
Personally, I like Android and am anti-apple. But, I'm curious too.
Short Answer: Kinda depends why you dislike Apple and like Android.
Long Answer: iPhone 5 will offer:
- a slightly larger screen (4" to previous models 3.5" but still on the low end of Android screen sizes which run 4.3"-5.8" today.)
- LTE antenna (the standard for all top cell phones coming out in the US this year)
- NFC (another standard in Android phones)
- iOS 6 (bringing a new turn-by-turn mapping service provided by TomTom, again Android has had this since early days)
- 9 pin connector (abandoning the 30 pin staple forcing people to get adapters or buy new accessories)
With iPhone you also get Siri which has better whole device integration than Google Now does at the moment. Google's voice translation is excellent but the feature can't control your whole device yet. And Google Now is only available on Jellybean phones.
With iPhone you do get the whole Apple ecosystem experience: a physical store for tech help, lots of accessories, a fully cultured iTunes store for music, apps and video, the best integration with Mac computers and Apple TV. i.e. the walled garden. I can see why Apple has a lot of fans.
That said, I left the Apple ecosystem because I found iOS to be too limiting. In order to get things like widgets and live wallpaper or file system access you need to jailbreak and install custom apps. Every iOS device (phone, tablet, etc.) has the exact same folder/app icon interface. It bores me and quickly becomes cluttered when you install over 20 apps. (I normally have 100 or more on my device.) And if you want to drop a few files for on the go use (like a video), you'll have a MUCH EASIER time doing it on an Android with file access.
Another plus for Android is you don't need to use iTunes EVER on Windows. If you have a Windows computer, Apple becomes a huge downgrade because of iTunes IMHO. If I had a $1 for every time it hung, crashed or had to be reinstalled on my system I could pay for several iPhones.
A lot of people are waiting to see what iPhone 5 has on offer, so it's reasonable to hold on a couple weeks. We're all wondering if Apple has a secret surprise to get everyone buzzing or will it be just what has been rumored. The rumors seem to say iPhone5 will play specs catch-up to Android phones.
You'll still have your Apple fans who enjoy the walled garden integration of phone to tablet and laptop/desktop. And there are those who will prefer a smaller handset to do one-handed use. Then there will be those who pass on the upgrade because it's mediocre or get annoyed with the change in dock connector.
Oh and Samsung will immediately file suit if Apple announces LTE. Those fireworks make the iPhone5 announcement a truly popcorn moment.