iPhone 7

[Reality]

How Apple has such a big following is beyond me..... Their phones are so behind in almost every aspect when compared to android. To each their own though.

One reason is that friends and family of many have iPhones which makes everyone around them feel like they must have them. The only way to one-up them is to buy the newer model before they do.

That said, the primary reason is iOS. iOS is an operating system designed for children to use. That reduces the learning curve for many people who are overwhelmed by traditional or more powerful operating systems. It was a smart move by Apple of course, but they have lowered the bar intelligence-wise so much that it will make it very hard for more advanced phone operating systems to succeed. They will have to rely heavily on revolutionary hardware to push people to deal with and overcome the learning curve of a real operating system.

iOS is basically today's version of .. The Smartphone by Mattel ..

 

[mmohican29]

Personally I have no issue with Iphones. They're a great product.

As for my personal choice- I've always been a fan of HTC phones and just ordered a 10. Premium fit and finish- probably not as "good" as the Edge 7 or Iphone 7- but I don't care. The audio on an HTC is always close to the best available and I love the Blinkfeed feature on their phones.

 

[pupulehaole]

The reason is that they just work better than other products.

ROFL at this.

 

[YosemiteSam]

100x

I'll say the only aspect I think they're still better than the rest is in form factor and quality of build.

I pick some Samsungs and they feel like a disposable phone.

Get the Nexus or now the Pixel phones. They generally aren't plastic crap. They also come with Vanilla Android and don't have tons of bloatware on them.

Not to mention the new ones are carrier agnostic. You can use them with any carrier, not just specific carriers the phone is built for.

PAYDAY!

 

[YosemiteSam]

Apple is a hardware company that also does software. Android is purely an operating system. People compare Apple to Android, but they really should be comparing iOS to Android.

If you leave the hardware out of it, you notice there's very little difference. I design apps professionally, and the early versions of Android were pretty terrible but these days, it's a toss up - they both work great.

In terms of hardware, I don't even think it's a question that Apple is among the best, if not the best. The new Samsung phones are the first Android OS phones I've used that felt as premium as Apple's offerings.

The Nexus and Pixel phones have guidelines set by Google, not hardware manufacturers. To carry the Nexus / Pixel name. They have to be quality phones. They are much higher quality than many Android phones out there.

 

[YosemiteSam]

I'm in the same boat with the 6 Plus... I've been upgrading every two years since the 3G. This is the first time I've had to really think about it... partially because two year contracts are also not a thing anymore. I've heard all of the stuff about next year's iPhone as well, but I've decided it's silly to make my decisions based upon rumors about a phone that's a year away. Besides when they finally do announce that, I could be "meh" on it as well... then what?
Big thing for me is I don't know if I can make it another year with the 6 Plus. The 1GB of RAM annoyed me from the start and has not gotten any less annoying two years later. When you consider that older iPhones usually get slower with new versions of iOS, who knows what this thing will be like after iOS 10 is installed. Either way, not sure I want to continue on with the sluggishness and reloading tabs in Safari and apps in multitasking.
But what's stopping me is that it's so hard to plop down the money on a phone that looks exactly the same as the one you just had, regardless of the internals. It's just a tough pill to swallow.

I know what you mean. I have a Nexus 7 (2012 model) I still use it for a specific purpose, but that's basically it. That thing has several generation old Android, but OMG does it crawl when I try to use it hah.

I seldom use a tablet anyhow, but the new tablet is supposed to be able to use my current SIM card in data only mode and I do actually use my tablet at times for e-reading and movie watching on planes. So I think I might pick up the new Android tablet once it's released. (if it's worthy that is)

My biggest issue with Apple was always there dictatorship mentality. Google follows more closely to my bread and butter which is open source. They aren't full open source, but I also get that as I'm not an RMS (Richard M. Stallman) OSS (Open Source Software) religious zealot either. I get business needs to make money and sometimes to get what you want. You've got to close source to make other business happy enough to allow their product on your software.

The other reason I like Android and specifically Google branded phones is Google does a good job of keeping the price down. There is no brand tax on it. (as some say, Apple tax, or luxury brand name tax like Chanel, etc) You get a great phone with a great OS on very good or great hardware for a cheap price respectively. I paid $429 for my 32GB Nexus 5X and it's been awesome and works with all carriers and uses Google Fi so my unlimited talk, text + data is $30/month! I stack that up against my GF's $700 iPhone and $150/month AT&T plan!

 

[YosemiteSam]

I am still on my iPhone 5 and plan to keep it another year. It is slow but I don't need that much speed in my life anyway.

Filthy Giants fan!

 

[YosemiteSam]

The reason is that they just work better than other products.

Says the guy who hasn't used a vanilla Android phone. (not the gussied up crap from Samsung that isn't always user friendly or bug riddled and loaded with bloatware)

 

[nobody]

If people like Apple and want to be a slave to their practices, more power to them, I guess. I'll pass.

This was on cracked and I thought it was not only funny, but relevant to this conversation:

http://www.cracked.com/article_24345_why-iphone-7-sucks-for-everyone-except-apple.html

 

[Seven]

I just can't wait to lose the wireless headphones almost immediately.

They have wireless head phones now!?

Next thing ya know they'll put a man on the moon. I swear...............

 

[Shunpike]

Filthy Giants fan!

Love you too. We gotta plan something when Cowboys come here.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Love you too. We gotta plan something when Cowboys come here.

I hope I get the tickets again. I got them again last year, but I had to take guys from my work with me. (they gave me all four tickets, and I took our Java developers with me)

 

[Shunpike]

I hope I get the tickets again. I got them again last year, but I had to take guys from my work with me. (they gave me all four tickets, and I took our Java developers with me)

I hope you enjoyed the loss. With me, Cowboys win is a guarantee. Pick wisely next time

 

[Rockport]

Says the guy who hasn't used a vanilla Android phone. (not the gussied up crap from Samsung that isn't always user friendly or bug riddled and loaded with bloatware)

I've worked in IT since 76 and was one of the first adopters of android phones. I didn't switch to iPhones until the 4s came out. I cut my teeth writing assembler programs. I've built enterprise mission critical databases for several Fortune 500 companies that must have <50 ms response times. I created a system monitoring program that's been used by 2 of those Fortune 500 companies for over 10 yrs and counting. I think I'm more qualified than most in saying that Apple phones work better than android phones. I don't like some of their business practices but when it comes to mobile phones and computers I don't have time for constant reboots, constant updates, bloated security software, blue screen of death, driver incompatibilities, 3rd party apps that either don't work or are flaky or crash the platform. That's why I switched to iPhones and Macs.

 

[YosemiteSam]

I've worked in IT since 76 and was one of the first adopters of android phones. I didn't switch to iPhones until the 4s came out. I cut my teeth writing assembler programs. I've built enterprise mission critical databases for several Fortune 500 companies that must have <50 ms response times. I created a system monitoring program that's been used by 2 of those Fortune 500 companies for over 10 yrs and counting. I think I'm more qualified than most in saying that Apple phones work better than android phones. I don't like some of their business practices but when it comes to mobile phones and computers I don't have time for constant reboots, constant updates, bloated security software, blue screen of death, driver incompatibilities, 3rd party apps that either don't work or are flaky or crash the platform. That's why I switched to iPhones and Macs.

Awesome. I was three when you started. Personally, I'm a Linux guy. Been using it since 1995 and professionally since 1999. I use Windows and I do like that Mac OS is based on Unix because I know and understand the concepts and how they are Superior any many ways to Windows. I'm also not an idiot. I know many things about Windows are superior to Unix, but most of those. Even the biggest Unix/Linux fanboys don't understand. (because it's kernel related)

I for the most part do not created applications. While I can and do program I learned early on that that silo isn't for me. I like my job to change so I went into Infrastructure and system administration. So I learned networks, servers, OS, databases, storage, and security. I built infrastructure for small and large companies, non-profits and I've built it in the financial district for online trading between banks and hedge funds. Though that changes nothing. It's always the best tool for the job and while simplicity is great, confinement isn't. That is what Apple gives you. While Linux (and Android) gives you the exact opposite, you still have to be smart in how you use it or you too can get yourself in trouble.

The key is to understand risks. Confinement is a risk, but so is completely and total freedom. Freedom is always better than confinement, but you must always keep your actions in check. The owner of the company I work for once told me. Allow me to grow my company, but don't allow me to destroy it.

Apple has always been about controlling everything including what their users do. That is why I do not use Apple. I prefer not to be shackled by anything, but my own understanding of risk.

 

[Yeagermeister]

I don't get the big deal about wireless ear buds or losing the headphone jack. If you want wireless headphones just buy a bluetooth headset and your done.

 

[Cowboy Brian]

I don't get the big deal about wireless ear buds or losing the headphone jack. If you want wireless headphones just buy a bluetooth headset and your done.

Precisely. I think the issue is that they're easier to lose and will cost $160 to replace therefore increasing the average cost of ownership for an iPhone.

 

[YosemiteSam]

You can already do bluetooth with the phone. All Apple is doing is FORCING IT DOWN YOUR THROAT.

My buddy uses a bluetooth headset for TeamSpeak. I want to choke him a few times a night because the connection breaks up all the time.

 

[Yeagermeister]

Precisely. I think the issue is that they're easier to lose and will cost $160 to replace therefore increasing the average cost of ownership for an iPhone.

Sounds like business as usual for Apple. Change the accessories so the user is forced to buy new stuff.

 

[KJJ]

I don't get the big deal about wireless ear buds or losing the headphone jack. If you want wireless headphones just buy a bluetooth headset and your done.

I've never gone wireless with my iPhone 6 but a friend of mine who has said it breaks ups which is why I haven't gone wireless with it. One problem with Apples earbuds is when the wire bends at the bottom the music you're listening to can start to breakup. This happened to me and had to purchase some new buds. Maybe Apple has improved the technology where there won't be any breaking up with their wireless buds.