Woz Says iPhone Features Are 'Behind' 587
redletterdave writes "The iPhone may be one of the bestselling smartphones on the planet, but Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak believes Apple's flagship smartphone has fallen behind its competitors, namely those built by Samsung, when it comes to smartphone features. Speaking at Businessweek's Best Brand Awards on Thursday evening, Wozniak said he was proud of how loyal Apple fans were to the iPhone, but also said 'this loyalty is not given,' shortly before denouncing his own company's smartphone. 'Currently we are, in my opinion, somewhat behind with features in the smartphone business,' Wozniak said. 'Others have caught up. Samsung is a big competitor. But precisely because they are currently making great products.'" I prefer Android, but it seems hard to find iPhone users who aren't enthusiastic about it. Whatever kind of phone you prefer, are there features you envy the users of some other variety?
iFirstPost (Score:5, Funny)
Patented by Apple (TM) 2013
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Horseshit. Not what he said.
As for the question in the summary, I'd say Android handsets lack quite a few things you get in the iPhones. But he's right when he says iPhones are missing some things that some Android handsets might have.
I prefer the Android way, but only an ass would ignore that Apple does some things much, much better.
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I prefer the Android way, but only an ass would ignore that Apple does some things much, much better.
Like what? Seriously, I can't think of anything. You can argue personal preference for Google Voice or Siri, the visual stylings of iOS or manufacturer X's Android skin and so forth, but I really can't think of an area where iOS has any clear advantage.
One other rule for this contest. Proprietary apps and the fact that all your friend have one is not an advantage, it's lock-in. Besides, anecdotes are worthless, give me solid and non-stupid features.
Re:iFirstPost (Score:5, Informative)
Seriously?
I charge my 6-7 year old "dumb"-phone once per week, occasionally less often when I forget. It's still on the original battery, and it's never run out of charge. Which smartphones even approach that level of battery life - even with minimal use?
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I used to have the Palm Pre before getting the iPhone 4s. I heard how much better the battery life was with the iPhone than the Android phones and that was a big factor in my decision. That being said the Pre had WAY better battery life than either of them. It also had a flashing light on the device when a notification was present. (it was the first to have the notification center but not for long) The Pre was very slow and didn't work great as a smartphone but the battery made it a great phone. I use
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meh meh, my sgs3 lasts 2 days (which is better than any other smartphone i had to date)
if you never reboot the iphone, it means you never update it.. I never need to reboot the sgs3 except for updates, and, uhm, never have.
the reboot itself takes about 10s so it's not really a big deal anyway. and yes, i'm using cyanogenmod (and I let it auto update once a week). It took about 15min to install (that sounds pretty far from 40hours...)
Feature wise the android devices offer more than apple, heck, even thus bei
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Sadly, when Palm started making phones, they threw away almost all the good things that made them what they were. They got rid of Graffiti handwriting recognition, and put in a stupid little ch
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about the same as my android (Score:2, Insightful)
my friends pay money for every little thing I download for free with my android phone. sucks to be them
Re:about the same as my android (Score:5, Insightful)
my friends pay money for every little thing I download for free with my android phone. sucks to be them
I know, paying developers for their time! What fools they are! In the grand scheme of things (given the cost of the phone and the plan), a couple of bucks here and there for apps is peanuts.
In all seriousness, what I want the iPhone to do that Android does is be able to control the hardware from a quick access screen - ie, turn the wifi or bluetooth on and off quickly without having to use the main settings app. When Apple announced they were bringing the swipe-down-from-top notification centre thing to iOS I really hoped that the ability to add those sorts of things to it would be there, but it seems not.
Other than that, I'm happy with it.
Re:about the same as my android (Score:5, Insightful)
swipe-down-from-top notification centre thing
If fucking bounce-back lists were worth a billion dollars, this thing that's actually useful? Google should sue Apple for $10 billion.
Re:about the same as my android (Score:4, Insightful)
You'll notice how careful he was not to say "Android-style notification system", which would have made it much more clear.
Re:about the same as my android (Score:5, Funny)
You'll notice how careful he was not to say "Android-style notification system", which would have made it much more clear.
I was?
I thought it was obvious that it was a feature borrowed directly from Android, given that the whole comment was about what I wish the iPhone had that Android has, and given that the Android notification centre has that feature, I logically assumed that the iOS version would have too.
You're looking for conspiracy and coverup where none exists. Don't be so jumpy. It gets tiresome to have to put disclaimers everywhere. My comment features this direct quote:
...what I want the iPhone to do that Android does...
I'm not sure how that's being "careful not to mention" that it's an Android feature. I mentioned Android by name specifically and directly compared it to iOS, noting that the feature is missing from iOS.
Sorry, next time I'll add "I wish iOS had this feature that Android totally has in Android, and totally isn't in iOS but when they announce it for iOS I'll totally mention that it's originally from Android every time I mention it otherwise people will think I'm trying to hide the fact that it's totally from Android".
Better?
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strangely enough, most of those free apps are funded by corporations that already have a revenue stream from other parts of the android market.
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There's always Auxo. [idownloadblog.com]
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That's what a jailbreak is for. I finally did that to my 4S because I started using a bluetooth keyboard for emails at work. PITA to go into settings, to swipes and a button push or two just to turn BT on and off (yeah, I know, First World problems....).
It really shouldn't be that hard Apple. But I suppose it's Not The One Way....
Re: (Score:3)
How long did it take to get an un-tethered jailbreak this time? How long will it take next time, At some point the inconvenience will outweigh ant perceived benefits.
Re:about the same as my android (Score:5, Insightful)
a couple of bucks here and there for apps is peanuts.
Ah, another Apple user happy to be nickel and dimed for everything.
I know, paying for things that people make might be alien to you. For the rest of us, we realise that money can be exchanged for goods and/or services. I'm happy to support developers, especially at the low prices they charge for typical mobile applications.
I get value from a product that I pay money for, the developer gets paid. Of course I'm happy about that. Why is that such a hard concept to understand?
Re:about the same as my android (Score:4, Insightful)
Ah, another Apple user being suckered out of extra money instead of using a system where corporations pay developers to make apps to give to customers free of charge to make their devices more useful. You're a chump, a fool who is parted from his money easily. why is that such a hard concept to understand? In other news, most Linux kernel developers are paid for their work.
You're trying too hard to make this into something it's not. The GPP's point was that we were chumps for paying for software, full stop. My point is that paying for software you find useful is not "foolish" especially when the costs are small.
It's hardly being "suckered" out of money, unless you consider any shop to be "suckering" people out of money when they browse the store and decide to buy something. It's not as if there aren't also a host of free apps on the store too. You make it sound like every single app costs money and that someone holds a gun to your head and says "buy it sucker!!!"
I'm not sure what the argument is here? That it's bad to buy software from developers, but it's ok if those developers are funded by someone else?
This is not an "us vs them" argument. It's like it's impossible for you apple haters to find any common ground with people who use a different mobile operating system to you. It's tiresome. I would have thought of all things, paying software developers for their work (by any means), would be an uncontroversial opinion. Alas, no, because we use Apple software we're "suckers" and "fools" for paying developers for their time.
Re:about the same as my android (Score:5, Interesting)
No, another user who is aware that other people are also real, and that there's an exchange between the app developer and the app writer.
I have an app up which is free, but requests donations. It's on Apple's app store and also on Google Play. The Apple users sometimes donate. One Google user has. Now, in this particular case, I don't care much, because the app is intentionally pro bono work. But even so... The disparity is quite noticeable. If I were primarily acting to make money, there is no way I would bother with an Android port.
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Seriously, you argue The iOS device cable's price, while leaving alone the myriad of other proprietary interoperability technologies, and eloquently neglect to mention that Lightning adapters are patent encumbered for anything other than dumb charging. (darn, pesky facts!)
Sure I can buy third party 30-pin adapters, but I can also buy floppy drives, DB15 video cards, and IDE cables but they're obsolete now. Unless I buy a $29USD, no lets round to $30, 30-pin to Lightning adapter.
Lastly, Apple's Lightning to
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Yes, there is more free stuff on Android. More because nobody can figure out how to make money from plain selling apps. But many of the free apps are riddled with holes, spyware, and have zero privacy controls...
All that is BEFORE you get into the realm of upgraded ROMs and rampant piracy.
Re:about the same as my android (Score:5, Informative)
But many of the free apps are riddled with holes, spyware, and have zero privacy controls...
FUD.
android has better privacy controls than iOS. every android app must declare permissions for the services it can use BEFORE it is installed. i've been an android user since the G1 and i've never had a problem.
the reports that pop up every month reporting "spyware found on google play store" are from "researchers" scanning the store and recording the permissions requested by certain apps that technically do not require that permission to operate. e.g., a flashlight app that requests internet access. there's no evidence that the apps are actually spyware, they are just suspicious. the only reason you don't see such reports on iOS is because iOS apps aren't required to declare permissions, so there's no easy way to tell what the heck they are going to do.
That is why it is WORSE (Score:4, Insightful)
android has better privacy controls than iOS. every android app must declare permissions for the services it can use BEFORE it is installed.
The problem is that is a horrifically stupid idea.
No user can POSSIBLY know before they run the app if all of the permissions make sense. Contacts is a great example, at some point it might benefit to look something up from a contact. So you just agree.
Meanwhile on iOS the user is not asked if the app should access contacts until they are using the app and whatever they are doing triggers the request. So they know what the app does, and know EXACTLY what they did to make the app ask for contacts, so they can decide if it makes sense to have them.
Also, if you don't agree on Android generally you just can't use the app because you have to agree to everything (yes I know there are ways around that, not standard though). On iOS I can keep using the app that I've just told has no access to location or contacts, without having to pre-select access teh app should have.
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Telling you what it needs is not better privacy control.
Example:
iOS/Facebook app - I can enable/disable at will whether the facebook app have access to:
GPS
Contacts
Calendar
Reminders
Photos
Notifications
Android/Facebook App - it tells me it needs access to:
phone
camera
record audio
GPS
contacts (include delete/modifying contacts)
USB storage
add/remove accounts
create accounts
set passwords
full network access
view wifi connections
control vibration
stop phone from sleeping
read sync settings
install shortcuts
test access to
Re:about the same as my android (Score:5, Insightful)
Find a free Samba client for iOS that is not trialware with a tiny file size limit, and a free VLC/Mplayer equivalent.* Ready? Go!
*These are the only apps I've tried to find for iOS, so far I have a 100% horrible dissatisfaction rate.
Re:about the same as my android (Score:4, Insightful)
How is it "backwards" to pay people for your use of their products? Do you work for free? Because if you don't, it sounds to me like you are part of the "problem", and are making those that use the fruits of your labor "go backwards".
Of course, given your adamance against paying for things, maybe you really do work for free. In which case, please accept my humblest apologies and condolences.
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Because developers just can't sustain a business based on a sales price of zero? Perhaps you don't get this, but we developers have to eat, pay off our mortgages and feed our families too.
And I condemned iOS LONG before I tried finding any software for it
That's just being an arse. A preju
Re:No, it was pulled because of idiocy (Score:4, Informative)
The FSF says the licenses are incompatible and any GPL apps in the app store are in violation:
https://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/more-about-the-app-store-gpl-enforcement [fsf.org]
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my friends pay money for every little thing I download for free with my android phone. sucks to be them
He gets for free everything he downloads with his Android phone thanks to his friends paying money in his stead. Honestly, that's not what was meant, and that's easy enough to see. However, the statement can be interpreted in both ways. English language, how I loathe thee.
Check me if I wrong... (Score:5, Insightful)
Check me if I wrong, but hasn't the iPhone always been behind on features? I mean, how many years did it take just to get copy / paste.
The iPhone was never about features, it was about style and ease of use. The problem is that they set the standard and the other companies have finally caught up.
Re:Check me if I wrong... (Score:5, Insightful)
It depends on what you mean by "features".
The first few generations of iPhone led the market in many respects when it came to hardware: screen quality and resolution, battery life, camera quality, processor, etc.
They also lagged behind in some software features: no copy and paste, lack of push notifications, multitasking, etc.
iOS also changed the way we use phones.
I've always been an Android fan, because I don't like the walled garden approach of Apple. I have to give it to Apple though - it's only been recently that Android hardware has caught up and surpassed the iPhone.
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The first few iPhones were the best hardware-wise, for a short time after their release. All it means is that Apple, the gorilla in the room, got access to the best new hardware before a bit before anyone else, what an achievement.
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The Benefon Esc! was the first phone with an internal GPS receiver. PDA users had been using their phones with external GPS receivers for years at that point. The Nokia 7600 was the first with a 3G radio.
Source:
http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/05/the-evolution-of-cell-phone-design-between-1983-2009/ [webdesignerdepot.com]
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Came here to say this. And "style and ease of use" came at a great cost too, something I'd rather other companies didn't try to "catch up" with.
Re:Check me if I wrong... (Score:5, Insightful)
Check me if I wrong, but hasn't the iPhone always been behind on features?
That may be, but the gap is widening. I have an iphone5 from my employer, and still prefer my private Android phone, despite it being 2 1/2 years old, chronically out of space, terrible battery life, and basically being end-of-life. The user interface is better, the features richer and more powerful, and the overall experience superior. Oh, and of course, the screen is bigger. And Siri--please, Jeannie works just as well (better in some cases, not quite so well in a few others, but overall, at least equivalent in overall performance).
Apple has mindshare because of group think and fashion-accessory/status symbol mindsets, not because of technical or aesthetic qualities. And its mindshare is shrinking, despite all of the media-bias. Android is outselling Apple 2/1 worldwide, and that gap is growing too, and not in Apples favor.
Re:Check me if I wrong... (Score:5, Insightful)
Whenever I see someone dismissing a product other people prefer as being a "status symbol" or "fashion accessory", I just think "snob". Seriously, why can't people like an iPhone and not have it be about being a status symbol, because as 50m sold in 3 months, it definitely isn't one.
The iPhone is a quality product for which consumers are willing to pay more than they are for other products, and not because it is a status symbol because, I assure you, no women have offered sex to me because I own an iPhone!
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Check me if I wrong, but hasn't the iPhone always been behind on features?
Well, there's two aspects to this phenomenon. One is that more features doesn't necessarily translate into a better user experience. What *does* make for a better experience is often the stuff that's left out, and that depends on the user. So for me, my Android phone is about perfect, but an (ironically named) feature phone is the best experience for my mother-in-law, who just wants to be able to make and receive calls. There's no way to make her phone better for her by adding features, and plenty of ways
Re:Check me if I wrong... (Score:5, Insightful)
Android is for tinkerers
while there's no hard data, it's estimate that 1-2% of android users have rooted their devices. fewer than that will have installed custom ROMs.
cheap folks
i'd rather be cheap than stupid. stupid is paying 2x for a less powerful device. i paid $300 for my nexus 4. an iphone 5 is what? $600? oh, did i mention i have free tethering with my stock ROM on at&t?
and folks who easily succumb to marketing
did you really just say that, in support of apple? apple is the epitome of fashion over function.
Re:Check me if I wrong... (Score:5, Informative)
That's a subsidized price that locks you into at least a 2 year contract. You generally end up paying far in excess of $1000 for your phone. A Nexus 4 is $309 outright where I am, while an iPhone 5 unlocked starts at $700, twice the price.
It's just a phone (Score:4, Insightful)
Get over it. Why are people so emotional about it?
If more Americans cared about the bigger issues in their lives we wouldn't be tax slaves living in a crumbling nation with an out-of-control government.
Am I the only person that feels this way?
Re:It's just a phone (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:It's just a phone (Score:5, Funny)
My switch reasons. (Score:3)
I haven't used an iPhone since my 3gs, but I switched to Android because I felt attacked constantly for being a jail breaker. With android manufacturers they may not support rooting a device, but once it is done updates generally don't remove it and try and keep me from doing it again. With my iPhone I couldn't use anything like wifi analyzer, or titanium backup. I mean there was a good wifi tracking app, then apple banned it for some stupid reason.
Also turn by turn navigation is great, Google maps is great, groove IP is great (unsure if apple has that) , and with the newest updates the transcription and voice commands under android is amazing.
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groove IP is great (unsure if apple has that)
Apple does have an IP on rounded corners, but not (yet?) on grooves.
(ducks)
Re:My switch reasons. (Score:5, Interesting)
Here we have a good answer.
Apple's restrictions ban a lot of "service" apps that are used by IT techs (and by suspicious persons too) that is one good reason to use android because Apple just suddenly pulls stuff claiming its "used wrong". Apple has a clear "don't shop here" sign out for common OSS network tools and the like.
Nexus 4 (Score:5, Interesting)
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I just got one as well. This covers the one of the two main problems people complain about with Android, the updates. I know it will be updated. The other main complaint is about malware, and while it's vastly overblown, is still more likely than with iOS. The solution here is to have a store that carefully reviews all software available on it. The great part is that someone could do it right now if they wanted. I consider F-Droid.org to be approaching this because of it's open-source nature. It's nice to h
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I just bought 2 (wife and myself). When I first talked about it she was like spend $600-700 for phones (ship+tax) but she was hating Tmobile service more and more. So i explained how even if we re-uped and got discounted phone the extra cost would be way more then the new phones.
And att/verizon were just too expensive with the required data plan for smart phones.
Since she's gotten it, she's come to me saying she wants to eat crow. She loves the phone. We also went with Net10 with an ATT sim. Her coverage h
Honest assessment leads to great products (Score:5, Insightful)
That's great that Wozniak can look at competing products and recognize accurately their strengths and weaknesses. That kind of objective evaluation leads to better decisions and great products. Companies that mindlessly insist that their products are the 'best' and punish any who dare to say otherwise have a difficult time putting out high quality products that people want to use. Those are the kind of companies that try to force their products on the marketplace and only have success if there is no choice but to use their products.
Re:Honest assessment leads to great products (Score:5, Funny)
That's great that Wozniak can look at competing products and recognize accurately their strengths and weaknesses.
He's been exposed to Jobs' RDF longer than anyone else, I guess that his immunity system has managed to find out antibodies against it.
Re:Honest assessment leads to great products (Score:5, Interesting)
Since Jobs passed away that has been lacking at the top of Apple. Unfortunately the RDF has outlasted Jobs himself and is still endemic to the company and everyone who worked for him (I DO know a few Apple engineers, and they agree with my assessment). They really do believe they are the best at everything and unfortunately it's going to take quite a force of will to convince them to excel as they did under Jobs. Tim Cook is a good guy and a great CEO... but he's not really the man to break that philosophical trough that Apple has fallen into.
Re:Honest assessment leads to great products (Score:4)
Having a talented head huckster helps stockholders, but it hurts customers, who get stuck with bad, overpriced products that are unsuitable for them.
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It's easy to be honest if you aren't working for the company anymore.
Actually, he's still their employee.
Product design mentality (Score:5, Insightful)
Quick question... is good product design about packing in as many features as possible, whether they are something people will actually use, or actually good ideas, or actually implemented in a good way, or something someone will actually use?
No. There are countless products in every market where the company that makes them does exactly that. They shove in every bell and whistle, whether it makes sense or not, whether it can be used in reality or not, and they are mediocre-at-best products. Many of them are bad, and you spend money on those features you will never use, just to get the handful that you will.
Just because the iPhone has "less features" doesn't make it a bad product. Similarly, just because some other phone has "more features" doesn't necessarily make it a better product. If it has more useful features, then it probably is a better product; if those features are implemented in a useful way that isn't buried under a horrible unusable interface, or requires everyone you interact with to also have that product for the feature to be of any use.
(None of what I said above applies to any specific product or manufacturer unless explicitly stated. This post was not meant to be a critique of any particular device, rather a critique on the concept of "more features == better")
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I bought a Samsung Galaxy S. I would say its functional, I would not say its good. I don't particularly like using it, and it has nothing approaching "fun" for me. Its a tool, not very well made.
Its best feature is that it lets me make phone calls and it keeps a charge for a quite a few days. My reaction to Android is "Meh" so far.
Most of the folks I work with have iPhones, they love them. A couple have high end Android phones and seem happy with them. Personally I think I would prefer an iPhone, primarily
For the money (Score:2, Funny)
"...it seems hard to find iPhone users who aren't enthusiastic about it."
If I just spent $600 on a phone, I'd feel compelled to act like it was the greatest thing since sliced bread, too!
Updates (Score:5, Interesting)
Over half of the Android devices out there are still running variants of version 2 of the OS and lower [bgr.com] while the last three Android releases are version 4 and higher.
Android needs to be rearchitected so that carriers provide drivers for the hardware, while Google takes full responsibility for updates to the OS. This approach has been working with Windows for decades.
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Except then the carriers just wouldn't bother with the drivers so any updates from Google would break the phone.
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When you buy a particular device, the hardware inside that device (e.g. SOC, Camera, Baseband) doesn't change. As long as Google doesn't change how the drivers interface with newer versions of the OS, the drivers for your particular device will continue to work.
This.
Abstracting the hardware from the upper parts of the OS is a solvable problem. It's a matter of considerable mental effort and architecture, but it's definitely solvable, and has been repeatedly solved in the long history of operating systems. The fact that Google somehow hasn't managed to solve this problem for Android speaks loudly about their abilities in the realm of OS design.
Here's a hint for Google engineers: monolithic is BAD!
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We're talking about the Linux kernel here. It's one of the most widely ported kernels I can think of.
The portability of the kernel is irrelevant. We're talking about the ability to selectively update layers of the OS without breaking things above and below.
The problem isn't the drivers, it's the fact the upper layers depend on behavior of the lower layers in the android sdk. That is the fail.
This is also a matter of abstraction, and also something that Google has failed to architect correctly.
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That's the theory. In practice, every update breaks some drivers which are badly-written and make dubious assumptions, on both Windows and Android.
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This belies ignorance of the problem. The carriers do nothing but shove crap on the devices. Drivers are standard Linux drivers unless they have a userspace blob. The problem is that the kernel drivers never get pushed upstream so they rot as the kernel moves on.
And due to the way cellular service works in the US, carriers and handset manufacturers have a perverse
Re:Updates (Score:5, Informative)
Just buy Nexus devices. The more people that stop buying unsupported carrier devices, the more devices that will have updates.
Apple - the phone for your parents (Score:4, Insightful)
Amazing how the circle has turned when it comes to phones. The iPhone has gone from being the hip new boy breaking the rules to a member of the establishment that everyone else is slowly leaving behind.
It used to be that the iPhone was an inspirational device, a device that caused geek envy wherever you used it.
And now, well it's the device for the technical luddites who have more money than sense, or for those that Apple have managed to lock in to their closed-wall infrastructure and are now too wary of trying something else. In other words - it's the phone you recommend to your parents so you don't have to do tech support for them.
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A phone immediately fails when you need to do any tech support for it at all.
So based on your argument, if you don't need to do tech support for an iPhone I'd call that a win. If Android needs tech support than it has failed as a phone.
Re:Apple - the phone for your parents (Score:4, Insightful)
Every non-trivial device requires tech support if exposed to a wide enough audience. There's an unbreakable trade-off between the complexity that comes from adding more features and making more ways something can fail. Note that I didn't say "in a phone" or "on a computer"; this trade-off exists in all design.
If Apple products really removed support, you wouldn't have to schedule time at their "genius" bars. The idea that Apple has lowered support overhead by decreasing visible features has some truth to it, but that this only goes so far has been obvious for years. I think the Onion pointed out how bizarre that turns if you go too far best, with Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard [theonion.com].
Re: (Score:3)
Re:Apple - the phone for your parents (Score:4, Interesting)
In other words - it's the phone you recommend to your parents so you don't have to do tech support for them.
I don't think you realize the implications of that last thing you say.
What you are saying is that if you are not extremely technically oriented (i.e., you are like the vast majority of people) then the iPhone is the best phone for you: It allows you to do almost everything that you can do with the "other" phones (and certainly pretty much everything that common people actually want to do with them), it gives you access to a library of 800,000 curated apps of all types, and, most importantly, it allows you to do all this without having to constantly resort to the help of your technically oriented son.
You should work for Apple's publicity agents, man.
Side loading (Score:2, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3)
Android has malware because Google is lax in screening software in their store and because Chinese stores (where most of the malware is) don't screen at all. Code signing doesn't, fundamentally, protect you unless there's some enforcement. And in the end, malware doesn't just "appear" on your phone, you have to put it there.
But hey, at least Apple simply gives you no choice.
Not really... (Score:5, Insightful)
... other than battery life and better phone calls.
I've got a Galaxy Nexus, and the hardware is fine -- high-resolution screen, fast enough CPU, etc. The only real "lacking features" are software things, and since it's Android that's just my own fault for not finding a better app to do whatever it is.
What I seriously don't like, though, is its ability to MAKE PHONE CALLS. This is a device that people watch Netflix on, for fuck's sake. Why is it using a ~10kbps codec for voice calls with an acoustic bandpass of a few khz, and moreover one with some absolutely awful signal processing characteristics? For instance (and this is just one example), if I'm talking to someone in the wind, and there's a gust of wind on my end, the phone mutes the speaker so I can no longer hear what they're saying. Why should it do that, unless it's trying to squelch feedback, which is very much not the problem?
As for battery life, I appreciate them making the things slim, but if they'd make it another 5mm or even 8mm thicker with most of that extra volume given to battery, you'd get about four times as much life out of it. Does anyone make a phone like this?
Re:Not really... (Score:4, Informative)
Size (Score:3)
Whatever kind of phone you prefer, are there features you envy the users of some other variety?
Small size. The flagship products from Apple and Samsung are too large bricks. Currently using HTC Wildfire S from couple of years ago. I guess Gingerbread is a bit aging already, but for my needs it's still a fantastic phone. I've seen mini models from SonyEricsson and Samsung too.
It's entirely normal and expected (Score:3)
In many consumer electronics industries, it's normal for the lead manufacturers to be continually leap frogging each other. At any given point in time one is ahead, and on the next product cycle their main rival is ahead.
Examples of this are common. For example in cameras Nikon and Canon are changing lead position pretty much every year, and in home theater systems the same has been occurring between Yamaha and Denon for well over a decade. In smartphones and tablets it's currently a two-horse race between Apple and Samsung, and which company has its nose slightly in front should be expected to change often. And of course other companies regularly join in the fun too.
Any "lead" that a particular company might have is actually very minor, because all high tech companies chase each other closely so it's always only by a nose.
Not much of a story really. Continual leap frogging is entirely normal in the industry.
perception of ease-of-use (Score:4, Interesting)
Apple has manged to convince the "unwashed masses" that their eco-system and devices are easier to use than the alternatives, and in fact their systems are pretty well thought out and easy to use and their control of the whole eco-system has made interoperability of software and hardware pretty seamless. Non-Apple sellers have the difficult job of convincing most buyers that their possibly better features are more valuable than Apple's "ease of use", even if the "ease of use" of their devices are as good or better than Apple's. The perception of Apple being the one source for hardware, software and content (through the single iTunes channel), as well as info-syncing (iCloud) is comforting to many. The competition has a number of places the consumer might feel they need to go for hardware support (Samsung perhaps), software support (Samsung, Google, and others?), content (Amazon, iTunes, etc), and services (Google and others?). Even if there is one vastly dominant company in each of these areas, they are still going to be perceived as more complicated than getting it all from Apple - even if it is not more complicated.
Tangentially, I think smart phones are approaching the same point that personal computers reached not that long ago - for the vast majority of customers the increased power and features of new devices are insufficient to justify upgrading their current device. When everyone in the world already has a decent smart phone the market for new phones is going to get much smaller.
Only one iPhone limitation I really dislike (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Yes, because it is very hard to flick a hardware switch on the side of the phone to put it on silent/vibrate.
Re: (Score:3)
Yes, because it is very hard
In one sense it's not hard, but in another sense it is. It's hard for humans to remember things 100% consistently. It's just a slightly better world when you don't have to remember and (a) your phone never rings during those meeting times, and (b) you never forget to turn the ringer back on after the meeting, which can result in missing important calls later.
As a programmer myself, I am annoyed when software could easily provide a very helpful feature that prevents its users embarrassment and makes their
Sample bias... (Score:4, Insightful)
I prefer Android, but it seems hard to find iPhone users who aren't enthusiastic about it.
There are a large number of people out there who think the iPhone is the only smartphone. So when they buy a smartphone, they buy an iPhone and love it, because the only thing they compare it too is their old clamshell phone. So naturally, they are very enthusiastic about it.
Actually, on a larger level my hypothesis is that Apple products work great for anyone who does not question the arbitrary limitations put on the software by Apple in the name of "ease of use". They just assume that "phones can't do that" or "computers don't do that" and are happy; whereas if you know a little bit about how much effort it would be to have that feature, and that it's omitted solely to simplify (i.e. dumb things down), it is immensely frustrating (although it seems once one reaches Apple Guru level, all the workarounds are second nature and these things are once again painless). In short, a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing. I say this at someone who uses Linux/Android at home, but OSX/iOS at work.
LTE (Score:2)
Phones like the Samsung Galaxy S2 LTE was available to customers in places like Canada toward the end of 2011. I watched the September 2012 video in which the iPhone 5 is introduced. At one point the speaker (Phil Schiller?) says the iPhone 5 will have LTE support, which is followed by a big round of applause. By then, there were a variety of Android phones in customer hands already with LTE, in a number of countries - and Android users had been using LTE phones since 2011.
I remember older iPhone present
Have it, Hate it. (Score:5, Interesting)
People who love their iPhones usually bought them. There are two things going on there. Firstly, it's a self-selecting group. They bought into the idea of the ads they saw for the phone. Secondly, they spent money on it. When you make a purchase, you tend to self-justify. You think what you bought was the best, because otherwise you got suckered. No one likes that, so we tell ourselves we won. What we have is the best.
I was handed an iPhone by my company. It's really nice to have a free phone and I appreciate it hugely. Yes, it's a ball and chain to the company, but if they hadn't given me the phone, they'd be calling me on my personal phone anyhow.
But I hate the iPhone. Hate it. My antipathy for it was nonexistent when I got it. It was way better (in some ways) than the crappy blackberry it replaced. But over time, I've grown more and more frustrated with the potential of the thing which is squandered. Every little thing about it annoys me.
My wife has an android phone. I am so envious. There's still much to hate there, but not nearly as much, and there seems to be progress on Android. Something which annoys you might actually get fixed. On the iPhone, you must learn to love it, for it will never change.
There is nothing to envy from the iPhone (Score:5, Informative)
I would be very interested if an iPhone user put forth one feature that the iPhone has, and Android is incapable of doing. I have not found a single thing an Android user would have to envy iPhone users for. This is partly because the iPhone is a phone, and Android is an operating system that comes installed on phones that run the whole gamut from cheap and flimsily-built knockoffs to high-end cutting edge powerhouses.
There is always an Android phone out there that fits your bill. There is however, only one iPhone.
I see no need for a smart phone (Score:3)
for me and my use of a mobile device.
I don't tweet or use FB and any other social network.
I have a tablet for reading books.
If I want to take video or stills, I have a decent POS camera with me most of the time or if I want to get really serious, I'll use my D800.
Plus many of the places I in work won't allow Camera Phones as well.
So FOR ME and ONLY ME, a device that makes calls, send/received texts and has an alarm clock is just about all I need.
This race for 'features' on smartphones is IMHO much like about 50% of the 'features' MS puts into Office. Great headlines but very few people really used them
Convert that to phones, great to brag to your mates, 'my phone can do this' but then quickly gets forgotten and pur into the 'Oh yeah, I used that once...'
category
Android is far ahead ... (Score:3)
I agree, most of my iPhone using friends love their gadgets, they are good, but then for every one of those I probably know someone who's switched to a Android now. Including myself going from a iPhone 4 to a Galaxy S2. The most surprising thing is they point out a better GUI, say it's just as easy to use, and absolutely love the ability to personalise your phone. Remember it wasn't even possible to set the iOS homescreen wallpaper until iOS 4 was released!
So when you press the shift/caps key on an Android on-screen keyboard, the letters on the keys change - which is a delightful feature. iOS, they are always capitals.
Woz understates the problem. Apple has been copying features pioneered on Android for some time now, and anything Apple original is coming out a little half-baked. Note that Siri wasn't an Apple original but a company they bought. Copy and paste, multi-tasking, the notification drawer, it's all better on Android and has been for some time. You couldn't even set a homescreen wallpaper until iOS 4. iOS stopped being good when Apple chases ever more revenue and half-baked sidetracks like Siri and their own maps. They are pouring a lot of effort in to hardware too but perhaps not pushing iOS ahead.
iOS still has it's good points for some users, but generally speaking it's so far behind it's not funny.
Re:Android is far ahead ... (Score:4, Funny)
I'm an android fan (nexus 4 baby!), but iOS definately has its points. A few less bugs and quirks, and pretty much 99% of mobile apps are available for it. Android is missing a few, especially in the gaming department where even if one is available, it may not be available for your phone (and often its just not there at all...)
Features don't count... (Score:3)
...unless they work right.
BlackBerry Balance (Score:3)
Whatever kind of phone you prefer, are there features you envy the users of some other variety?
I'm an iPhone user but I envy the BlackBerry Balance feature. The ability to completely cordon off work from home is a terrific feature. Far too often I end up accidentally sending work related emails, calendar invites... from my home email.
back button vs metal case (Score:3)
OTOH, I have always loved the hardware design of the iPhones. I love phones which have a metal feel. Even the plastic on the iPhone feels better than the cheap plastic of my own phone. I chose my Android phone based on features rather than look and feel. I've never liked that it's entirely plastic.
I loved my Nexus One because it was a great Android phone (at the time) with a metal feel, but when I upgraded I couldn't find a similar phone.
Re:As an iPhone user (Score:5, Insightful)
The health of an ecosystem can be measured by the abundance of parasites...
Good God... calling a "walled garden" an ecosystem!
If all the animals are fed from a single trough, that's not an ecosystem, that's a farm.
Re: (Score:3)
Walled gardens, DRM, Flash exploits...don't you know the world is going to end if you don't switch to open source everything RIGHT THIS MINUTE!? You must be new here.
Re:As an iPhone user (Score:5, Interesting)
I've just purchased a couple of of iPads, and frankly, the "walled garden" apple thing is FUCKING annoying.
Jesus motherfucking CHRIST, but the inability to easily share documents among "apps" on a single device is fucking retarted. I don't care what the motivation was for this, but it's stupid and gets in the way.
From "app" 1, save your document in the "iBooks" thing, the iCloud, "iTunes" (lol) - then it's, oh sorry, but "app" 2 can't open said document from any of those. oh, oh, wait, app2 saves it's documents in it's own little shit hole garden, where nothing else can access it...
I wish I'd known before I bought these devices that there is no simple, easy to use, way of sharing documents among apps. Windows/linux/osx/* users will have no idea what the fuck I'm on about.
I tried to upload a simple pdf doc to a website using safari... oh no, can't do that. The fucking document can't be found anywhere. It's in appN's walled garden. Solution? Pay for iCabSomething-or-other, which is really a hacked browser which "allows" you to upload any document you want to a simple html fucking form on a website... but only after you've downloaded the document using the SAME browser so you can access it from the same shit hole garden.
It's no wonder the other executives in my team have had their fucking iPads for MONTHS but have yet to use them productively... oh wait, one of them uses it to browse and email. That's it.
FUCK apple, I thought you were better than this.
Re: (Score:3)
Agreed on file system issue. Dropbox makes this much better though
Re:As an iPhone user (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:As an iPhone user (Score:5, Informative)
You read that article wrong. It doesn't say that it offered the fix only for Jellybean. It says, "Google’s security officials replied in minutes, confirming the flaw and promising to correct it. Within days they had incorporated a fix into the latest version of the Android operating system, Jelly Bean 4.2, and made available a security update for earlier versions."
The real problem, the article goes on to say, is that those security updates aren't pushed automatically by Google, they're up to the manufacturer and/or carrier to implement, which is where the monolithic approach of Apple has its advantages, although I still prefer my Android overall.
Re: (Score:2)
That's what you get when your product is made by a different manufacturer each time. Nexus S was a Samsung, based on the Galaxy with its Corning glass which is tougher than the bezel surrounding it. Nexus 4 is a LG and unnecessarily fragile.
Re: (Score:2)
Nexus 4 is a LG and unnecessarily fragile.
Doesn't this have a more MBA-ish translation in "planned obsolescence"? There you go, this fragility may be necessary for somebody, even if not... err, umm... necessarily for you (or me for the matter)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Stop spreading FUD, I dropped mine and it bounced down a flight of stairs. When I got to it expecting it to be trashed, it was perfectly fine.
Re: Woz is a very polite man. (Score:2, Insightful)
He's a smart man. I'm sure he meant to say exactly what he said. Who are you to say what he meant?
Re: (Score:2)
The problem with Exchange support is that it normally comes with a "allow remote data wiping" permission. iPhone users are used to syncing all their content with iTunes (even the Windows crapfest version) with one click as that is the default out of the box. As such they don't care about a wipe as it is easy to restore. Content and apps on Android are disparate and localised to the phone unless you jump through some hoops first so a remote wipe *destroys* your content.