Day: September 19, 2014

I’m going back to the iPhone after 6 years on Android. Here’s why.

I had the original iPhone (still have it, still mostly works) and then moved to Android (HTC Evo, then Motorola Photon then HTC One). I went over to Android because I didn’t really like the design on the 3G and I wanted out of the walled garden. More importantly I was using Google Apps and Contacts for everything and the Android integration was so much better. Over time I also grew to like the larger screen sizes (I have large hands) and Swype/Swiftkey.

I’m now moving back, because…

  1. The iPhone camera is just better all around. In low light my HTC One can’t be beat, but I don’t take a lot of pictures in bars. The new camera controls mean you’ve got SLR like functions on the phone, and focus is super fast so video will be better. I will miss HTC’s Zoe, I’ve grown to like that feature.
  2. The iPhone 6 is a better design than anything else out there. My HTC One was the most beautiful phone of its generation (yes, more so than the iPhone 4/5 in my eyes).
  3. Apple finally has the same control panel features and alerts that make Android so convenient, thanks to iOS 8 (Anandtech has the definitive take-down of iOS8).
  4. Android is still a struggle at times. Things aren’t as easy as they should be. I can never quite put my finger on what, but it’s there.
  5. HTC has been fantastic about supporting Android software upgrades. But Motorola was not, my Photon never got the promised Gingerbread update. Apple’s upgrade policy is fair and they stick to it.
  6. The app selection. Apple users pay for apps and content, developers know that and give them first dibs at everything. I want back in.
  7. I was excited about Android openness, I’ve grown to love Swype’s keyboard and it’s now available in iOS8. In the end, I never really used jailbroken apps, and it was theoretically cool to have Linux on my phone, but it realistically made no difference since I never treated it like I do my other Unix boxes (yes, the iPhone runs Unix too, I know).
  8. I’ve always been a Mac guy but have been toying with PCs for the past year and a half (Acer WIndows 8 laptop, surprisingly not too bad except for touchpad). I’ll go back to MacBook Pros when the new Broadwell versions are available (and I finish my book #resolution).

But I’m in no rush, I’ll run out the year on my HTC One and then get the iPhone 6 Plus once its through the teething problems (many apps/images haven’t been updated for the new screen size).