Thanks for a proper, balanced view from the other side Matt. There is no "best" smartphone manufacturer or ecosystem, it's a constantly changing market. Best we all remember that before berating others for their choices. By all means complain about the products/companies, but not the users. They have their reasons.
I was stating that as with most phones these days it is nothing new. The same as I was meh with the s3 (which I gave to my misses) still on my trusty s2 . I have had a 3gs in the past and it was a good phone. I just look at phone releases and very rarely is there something that actually warrants the hype.
As per Uni IOS, iTunes & Apple App store are the parameters. If those aren't the requirements, then yes, an android is probs the better option for you. (Or if your tech support i.e. son or partner is an iPhone user then I'd go with the iPhone as well, I refuse to help my missus with her android which she asks for all the time as she "hates Apple 'because'".)
Here Here . It's just what you find desirable in a smartphone and what you like and find accessible. I have an S3 and at the time, it was either that or an Iphone for me. I chose it because I like to customise it and I still continuously do that. My other half however doesn't like IOS and finds android confusing. She has a Lumia 520 and loves it; I however can't stand the windows OS on a phone, I can't use it. I think that apple charges far too much for what is basically the same phone with a few tweaks.
For me it all comes down to price - when I got my S4 on contract it was brand new (I preordered it) and I got a price whereby I was paying less per month and less up front than an iPhone 5 which was already ~6 months old when the S4 was released and technically inferior. For what you get for your money I just don't understand how iPhones are more expensive than S3s / S4s. Luckily I'm not tied into music on iTunes or apps on the app store so the decision is much easier for me than some.
Yes, as I have stated in other iOS threads before, the data set that's on my current iPhone in 2013 is exactly the same data set that I created on my first iPhone in 2007. I have mail, contacts, calendars, notes etc all dating back to iPhone day one. iTunes playlists that I created for my iPod 5th gen video which I got 7 years ago still sync to it (although my taste in music may have changed slightly since ) and I know every pixel of every iOS (5.something here) menu screen. The apps I've bought in the past 6 years amount to quite a bit of expense. For example I use the LogMeIn Ignition app daily, which now costs £90, and the TomTom U.K. & Ireland SatNav app which I also use every single day is £40. All in, I'd say I own a good £200 of regularly used apps, "regularly used" being once per week or more. You make an interesting point about the tech support, it's actually the opposite here although not by my doing. Both of my parents are now using Android phones and I am obviously their tech support. I found both phones and the OS very simple to set up and use, although if anything Dad's Fame is a little slower than Mum's Ace 2 despite being a newer model, but Mum chose them both and neither would be without a 'Droid now. There are now zero "dumb phones" in our house, even my spare work phone is my trusty old 3GS which still gets a better signal and drops less calls than my problematic iP4.
Thats one of Apples trump cards its not going to lose its existing customer base as it would cost them a fortune to switch to a product on andriod. Apps and Music that are locked to Itunes I would not like to say how much ive spent over the years on stuff and its alot more than the phones themselves thats for sure. I have a SG4 from work and its great to play around with but if I was to try and aquire the Apps I use daily to weekly it would set me back a good £200 - £250 if they are even avail in the first place. Thats half the cost of a phone in the first place just in Apps. Start adding in music costs and you go above the cost of all top end smartphones. Used and Owned both major mobile OS for the last 4 years now and would if I was to pick a phone today from scratch buy a cheap andriod phone like a nexus as its more than fast enough for my own needs. But in the eco system I am in it would cost me 3-4 times the nexus price to rebuild the Apps and Music collection I already own into a one on googles market place. As for phone price I buy Sim free phones, My SG4 cost the company £349 with discounts that they recieve they buy multiples at a time. ( quick check on amazon suggests the price is £439 for 16gb version ) Iphone 5 was around £60 more for the same size version. I dont personally own that version though. Sim only contracts are your friends they offer so much value compared to the crazy £35-£45 that they charge for a phone. I get unlimited calls / texts / and 5gb 4g data for £17 on EE at the moment. Comparable price with a phone is about £36 a month ( depending on phone). How to get a good deal say your leaving they will offer you anything to stay lol. If your in the UK your better off buying the phone outright then getting a sim only deal as you will save alot of money since 24months seems to be the minimum in phone + contract which seems a bit nuts, Would personally not want to be tied to a contract for 24months at a time not in the current economic climate anyway.
In a post-Snowden revelation world their new feature is a fingerprint scanner??? At this rate the iPhone 6 will ask for a DNA sample while Siri talks dirty to you...
the BBC was giving its usual free advertising to apple again. Ive never really seen the appeal of an iphone. For me its ALWAYS been overpriced and hyped up. The "new" phone is just that. a slight improvement on the old model with an extra £100 added to the price tag. Mind you, wont stop a million drones going out and buying one simply because they must have the "latest model" meh all round.
This guy. What a post. a) "The BBC is ****" b) "I've not used it yet, but its **** trust me I know" c) "iPhone users are ****" Thats how I read your post.
Indeed, I am paying for mine and my missus' phone on sim free, total contract cost £19 for the both of us, both unlimited data with 500 mins 2000 txt, superb, just buy phones out right. New iphones seem OK, pricey, but you have to pay for quality hardware, they are not what I would buy personally as I like bigger screens, good chips in those apples though, despite having quad core this and that in many android phones they seem to just about match the old iphone 5 for user experience/feel, generally down to bloatware added to many Androids by their makers to differentiate from the herd, when it comes to games of course the Apple is a bit of a winner, keeping resolution lower allows for better games performance etc. Much more excited by the LG G2 and the possibility that the new Nexus could be based on that.
I will get the new iphone. I have no apple products except iphones - which I have bought for years, I had nokia n95, then n96 - then iphones since then (with some android devices at the same time as work phones), as I like the space they offer for my musics, simple as that And they plug into my car which means my musics can happen there, which is important. Though I think I could plug an android into my head unit as well - never tried (is not aux is usb). (and I have 18 million apps now. And I want the gold one as I am a tart.) I actually carry 2 iphones every day, 1 for work 1 for fun. This wasn't a choice thing, just kind of how things have panned out.
Really? Dont know many existing Iphone users who have said they are leaving to Windows phone or Andriod, IOS has the highest retainer rate last I checked still of users who have kept with it. Most people I know either love Andriod or Love IOS and they would not move to another OS, People dont care for Blackberry or Windows mobile. People are too far invested in the Eco systems to consider changing there OS. Theres a reason Linux / Mac OSX any other OS but Windows has not took off as people have so much software thats locked to one eco system. I could not leave Windows OS to go to Linux tommorow would not be viable. Similary I could not leave IOS tommorow and Join Andriod unless I had a spare £200 to rebuy critical Apps anyway. Andriod actually is hitting monopoly figures in terms of overall % if they go much higher they could hit EU intervension again similar to what happened to windows when it hit the figures that are getting quoted. Google needs Apple as much as Apple needs Google. ( If google did not need them all google apps would leave Apple store tommorow ) If Apple left the market tommorow and everyone brought Andriod Google would have Major issues with Competition board who would demand changes be introduced to allow other competition to grow.
^ And good luck to them, Apple make great products. But that doesn't change the fact that they're still paying well over the odds to retain their chosen ecosystem. It's one of the reasons I jumped the Apple ship after 18 months on a 3G back in the day.
My boss has just anounced new iPhone 5s's all round! Should be a nice upgrade from our current iPhone 4.
Surely that's a silly way of justifying it though, since if you changed platform to a cheaper option, then spend the money on the apps etc, each time you got a new phone you'd be saving, and so you'd get your money back? (theoretically) At the moment you're paying over the odds each time you get a new phone (in theory, I don't actually pay attention to top end phones, or phones at all really) So sure there's an initial investment, but over time you'll get that back.
Because Apple are the only company attempting to protect their interests with patents! The US patent system is a mess. A MESS!!! But having said that I know there will be tech in Apple's fingerprint scanner protected by dozens of patents. To get it Apple bought AuthenTec for $356 million. It's a new grade of scanner that is (by all accounts) significantly better than the ones we've seen on consumer devices before. It won't be perfect, as even to Apple's admission it won't work well with wet or scarred hands, but I bet it'll be eminently usable. Will Apple have a patent fight over it in the future? If someone like Samsung or HTC is crazy enough to rip off the underlying tech then you betcha. If they add their own fingerprint tech that works in a different way? Probably not. I just hope it doesn't end up with them fighting over the UI and training of the authentication process rather than the tech. Or something as crazy as the app icon!
