Fast forward to three and a half years later. Overall, I have been pretty happy with the phone, but it's starting to work very slowly and it may be time for an upgrade. I should note here that I haven't updated my phone past iOS 8.3, because when the new Apple Music app came out, I started to get pretty annoyed with Apple. More on that later.
For various reasons, I have been tinkering with the idea of buying an Android phone to replace my Apple phone. I like the idea of being able to customize things to my liking, but the idea of learning a whole new operating system with new apps, new gestures and new interfaces is a little more than daunting to me.
And so the experiments began. I borrowed my friend's old Nexus 5, and have been using it for about a month as my primary phone. Below I rate the experience of Android versus Apple on the most important tasks for which I use my phone on a daily basis.
Music
I love the interface of the version of Apple Music I am using on my iPhone with iOS 8.3, but I can tell that my days with it are numbered. As soon as I get a new iPhone (if I decide to go that route), I will be forced to update to the new Apple Music, with cloud libraries being the centric use case of the app. I have used it on other people's phones, and find it very cumbersome.
That said, Google Play is exactly the same. I do appreciate the curated music mixes it offers, but it's annoying to have to dig into a menu just to get to the music I already uploaded to my phone.
Speaking of which, Android File Transfer (the program through which I upload music to the Android Phone), is extremely cumbersome to use. iTunes certainly isn't perfect, but it does what I need.
I am currently testing out a bunch of third party music apps on both phones, but to be perfectly honest, I think Apple still wins in this department. Now if only I could develop a music player for iOS that had similar controls to that of the SoundCloud player. Now that's an excellent music interface.
And if none of that works out, there's always this article on how to remove the "Apple" from your Music app. I love LifeHacker.
Apple wins with iTunes.
Apple: 1
Android: 0
Notes
I am a big writer of notes. Most of them funnel directly into my blog on Blogger, which (I have mentioned already) has a terrible mobile interface. And so, during my iPhone days, I was simply copying notes from the Notes app into emails I would send to myself. This process is really annoying.
I must admit that Google Keep is a wonderful little app that arranges my notes in a much cleaner grid-based system, and also uploads to my Google account so I can access them from any computer. That's the kind of system I'd really expect for 2016.
That said, I know that iOS Notes has received some kind of upgrade since my dusty old 8.3, so I would like to check out what that's all about.
Android wins. (But I can use this app on my iPhone.)
Apple: 1
Android: 0 (no points for this because it's not Android-only)
Calendar
I use the calendar on my phone religiously. I expect a lot from it, and iCal does most of what I need. But, as mentioned with Google Keep, the way that Google Calendar integrates with the desktop view is really handy. I even imported my personal calendar into my work calendar, so my life feels a bit more organized.
Colour coding of work/personal/facebook events/reminders has made my life so much better.
I also get the feeling that there are a lot of other features I'm missing, such as notifications from Google Now of when to leave my house in order to be somewhere on time. These have cropped up in my notifications recently, but I'm not 100% sure how that's happening. I should look into it.
Android wins. (But I can use this app on my iPhone.)
Apple: 1
Android: 0 (no points for this because it's not Android-only)
Facebook
The interface of Facebook and Facebook Messenger is largely the same, with no big complaints for either. I will mention here that when I didn't have anyone's contact information in the new phone, it was still really easy to keep in contact with people through the Messenger. I hate to say that I kind of like it better than texting. I know, I'm playing right into their hands! This is what they wanted all along!
I do get a bit annoyed with chatheads, though. I find they are getting in the way more often than being helpful. I really liked the way Apple kept its notifications as banners on the top of the screen, which could be tapped to reply. That's all I really need.
I don't know if it was a coincidence that this happened just as I was settling into the new phone, but Messenger added the ability to change the colour of certain conversations at the same time that the new Android messenger app came out. I think Facebook does it better, to be honest. And the further new addition of the custom emojis on a per-conversation basis is really nice.
Tie.
Apple: 1
Android: 0
Email
Obviously, the Gmail app doesn't allow for syncing with non Gmail-inboxes (yes, I still have a lingering Hotmail account that I like to keep my eye on). Other than that, I don't mind the app and could probably get used to it.
That said, I really feel that the Apple Mail app is much more simple and workable in terms of getting what I need from my emails.
Apple wins.
Apple: 2
Android: 0
Home Screens
The home screens of both phones are pretty similar, apart from the really cool widgets I've placed on my Nexus 5 screens. I have a window of chats that I use quite a bit, and a google search bar on every page. I google a lot of stuff. On that note, I have noticed some syncing between the searches I create on desktop and on my phone. Smart behaviour.
Android wins.
Apple: 2
Android: 1
Keyboard
I am using SwiftKey on Android, but honestly I keep thinking about how much better the Apple Keyboard is. I like the placement of all of the punctuation characters, and the long-press to get them on the SwiftKey keyboard makes me feel like I am wasting a second of my life every time I need a quotation mark or bracket. Also, this may be due to my prolonged use of the Apple keyboard, but the autocorrect on Android is CRAP.
Apple wins.
Apple: 3
Android: 1
Emojis
This is an automatic win for Apple. I DETEST Android emojis, and always feel weird sending one to someone with an iPhone. Will they see it? What does it look like in emoji? Why can't I see the one they just sent me? The story goes on. And the fact that Facebook also has custom ones makes me even more confused. I miss my taco emoji.
Apple wins.
Apple: 4
Android: 1
Backing Up Photos
I really do like how Google automatically backs up photos and videos to Drive. I am going to start using that no matter what phone I choose (it works for iPhone too). I have been using iPhoto and it just sucks. Really bad.
Android wins (but I can do this on my iPhone.)
Apple: 4
Android: 1 (no points for this because it's not Android-only)
Lock Screen Notifications
One thing I really like about android that I didn't mention before is handling of notifications. They don't all dismiss as soon as you choose one. I really enjoy the top bar icons that give you a little snippet of all of your notifications, which you can view by pulling down the drawer from the top, and dismissing one by one (or all of them, with the three-line icon on the bottom right).
iOS treats this rather stupidly, auto-dismissing all of your notifications every time you unlock your phone. So every time you have a big list of notifications, you're forced to mentally catalog and remember them all, while selecting the one that you think is most important to view first. It's idiotic.
Android wins.
Apple: 4
Android: 2
LED Notifications
Android has different coloured LEDs that flash on the front of the phone (even when the screen is off), each colour specified for a specific type of notification. This is really handy, and saves battery from having to turn the screen on and off every time I want to check if someone has messaged me.
Android wins.
Apple: 4
Android: 3
Life360
If you're a young-ish person having semi-recently moved out of your parents' house, you may know the joys and sorrows of the "Find my Friends" App. I like my father not to worry so I allow him to see my phone's location inside the app. This has also helped my friend to find her stolen/lost/we-still-don't-quite-know phone, so it's pretty useful. Unfortunately, the app is iOS-only, so I was forced to look for an alternative that was Apple and Android compatible. And that I did find. The app is called Life360, and the app is an excellent upgrade from Find My Friends. It has an excellent user interface, a hilarious tone/voice, and awesome little animated gifs. Not to mention, in addition to location, it also shares your friends' battery levels, which is important if you're looking for them in a state of emergency.
If This Then That
During my phone switch, I also incidentally came across the awesome service "If This Then That". It allows you to create 'recipes' that will auto-run at specific times and occurrences. For example, I have the weather sent to my phone as a notification at 7AM every day so I know how to dress for the day. I have Twitter automatically tweet my new blog posts (including this very one!) every time I post them to Blogger. It's great. Check it out.
Probably my favourite recipe is that every screenshot I take of my phone screen automatically saves to a Dropbox folder. With this new interface to learn, I am finding great little instances of user experience that I want to refer to later. Maybe I'll chronicle some of them in a blog post!
The biggest change during this experiment is my change in attitude about auto-updating apps. I don't do it on my iPhone, but I must admit that it's been a joy to see new features in apps on the Nexus 5 without having had to do anything. Keeping updated is important for a lot of apps (except that dang Apple Music app).
Roundup
Overall, it looks like I am going back to Apple. I am particularly excited about the fact that I can get rid of the darn iCloud Music from the Music app. I am going to start using a bunch of Google Apps actively on the iPhone, though, which is something I never would have found by sticking to Apple everything. I really love the personality of Google Apps and the awesome interface of the notifications, but the underlying gestures and interface features of Apple will unfortunately keep me coming back for the foreseeable future. You win this one, zombie Steve Jobs.
The interface of Facebook and Facebook Messenger is largely the same, with no big complaints for either. I will mention here that when I didn't have anyone's contact information in the new phone, it was still really easy to keep in contact with people through the Messenger. I hate to say that I kind of like it better than texting. I know, I'm playing right into their hands! This is what they wanted all along!
I do get a bit annoyed with chatheads, though. I find they are getting in the way more often than being helpful. I really liked the way Apple kept its notifications as banners on the top of the screen, which could be tapped to reply. That's all I really need.
I don't know if it was a coincidence that this happened just as I was settling into the new phone, but Messenger added the ability to change the colour of certain conversations at the same time that the new Android messenger app came out. I think Facebook does it better, to be honest. And the further new addition of the custom emojis on a per-conversation basis is really nice.
Tie.
Apple: 1
Android: 0
Obviously, the Gmail app doesn't allow for syncing with non Gmail-inboxes (yes, I still have a lingering Hotmail account that I like to keep my eye on). Other than that, I don't mind the app and could probably get used to it.
That said, I really feel that the Apple Mail app is much more simple and workable in terms of getting what I need from my emails.
Apple wins.
Apple: 2
Android: 0
Home Screens
The home screens of both phones are pretty similar, apart from the really cool widgets I've placed on my Nexus 5 screens. I have a window of chats that I use quite a bit, and a google search bar on every page. I google a lot of stuff. On that note, I have noticed some syncing between the searches I create on desktop and on my phone. Smart behaviour.
Android wins.
Apple: 2
Android: 1
Keyboard
I am using SwiftKey on Android, but honestly I keep thinking about how much better the Apple Keyboard is. I like the placement of all of the punctuation characters, and the long-press to get them on the SwiftKey keyboard makes me feel like I am wasting a second of my life every time I need a quotation mark or bracket. Also, this may be due to my prolonged use of the Apple keyboard, but the autocorrect on Android is CRAP.
Apple wins.
Apple: 3
Android: 1
Emojis
This is an automatic win for Apple. I DETEST Android emojis, and always feel weird sending one to someone with an iPhone. Will they see it? What does it look like in emoji? Why can't I see the one they just sent me? The story goes on. And the fact that Facebook also has custom ones makes me even more confused. I miss my taco emoji.
Apple wins.
Apple: 4
Android: 1
Backing Up Photos
I really do like how Google automatically backs up photos and videos to Drive. I am going to start using that no matter what phone I choose (it works for iPhone too). I have been using iPhoto and it just sucks. Really bad.
Android wins (but I can do this on my iPhone.)
Apple: 4
Android: 1 (no points for this because it's not Android-only)
Lock Screen Notifications
One thing I really like about android that I didn't mention before is handling of notifications. They don't all dismiss as soon as you choose one. I really enjoy the top bar icons that give you a little snippet of all of your notifications, which you can view by pulling down the drawer from the top, and dismissing one by one (or all of them, with the three-line icon on the bottom right).
iOS treats this rather stupidly, auto-dismissing all of your notifications every time you unlock your phone. So every time you have a big list of notifications, you're forced to mentally catalog and remember them all, while selecting the one that you think is most important to view first. It's idiotic.
Android wins.
Apple: 4
Android: 2
LED Notifications
Android has different coloured LEDs that flash on the front of the phone (even when the screen is off), each colour specified for a specific type of notification. This is really handy, and saves battery from having to turn the screen on and off every time I want to check if someone has messaged me.
Android wins.
Apple: 4
Android: 3
Life360
If you're a young-ish person having semi-recently moved out of your parents' house, you may know the joys and sorrows of the "Find my Friends" App. I like my father not to worry so I allow him to see my phone's location inside the app. This has also helped my friend to find her stolen/lost/we-still-don't-quite-know phone, so it's pretty useful. Unfortunately, the app is iOS-only, so I was forced to look for an alternative that was Apple and Android compatible. And that I did find. The app is called Life360, and the app is an excellent upgrade from Find My Friends. It has an excellent user interface, a hilarious tone/voice, and awesome little animated gifs. Not to mention, in addition to location, it also shares your friends' battery levels, which is important if you're looking for them in a state of emergency.
If This Then That
During my phone switch, I also incidentally came across the awesome service "If This Then That". It allows you to create 'recipes' that will auto-run at specific times and occurrences. For example, I have the weather sent to my phone as a notification at 7AM every day so I know how to dress for the day. I have Twitter automatically tweet my new blog posts (including this very one!) every time I post them to Blogger. It's great. Check it out.
Probably my favourite recipe is that every screenshot I take of my phone screen automatically saves to a Dropbox folder. With this new interface to learn, I am finding great little instances of user experience that I want to refer to later. Maybe I'll chronicle some of them in a blog post!
The biggest change during this experiment is my change in attitude about auto-updating apps. I don't do it on my iPhone, but I must admit that it's been a joy to see new features in apps on the Nexus 5 without having had to do anything. Keeping updated is important for a lot of apps (except that dang Apple Music app).
Roundup
Overall, it looks like I am going back to Apple. I am particularly excited about the fact that I can get rid of the darn iCloud Music from the Music app. I am going to start using a bunch of Google Apps actively on the iPhone, though, which is something I never would have found by sticking to Apple everything. I really love the personality of Google Apps and the awesome interface of the notifications, but the underlying gestures and interface features of Apple will unfortunately keep me coming back for the foreseeable future. You win this one, zombie Steve Jobs.
Great blog Chloe!! I've been pondering the same switch myself, so thank you for the comprehensive round up!
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked it :)
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