iphone5_1 originally uploaded by gyroscopio
Last week’s poll asked about political yard signs and whether you used them or not. While the vast majority of people said they didn’t, with reader Kassie noting the political types find them to be useless because “signs don’t vote,” I have to admit I find them to be totally useless. However, this election season I’m seeing more signs related to the marriage amendment than anything else–aside from the Lakeville side of Flagstaff which is littered with Little signs supporting the man who helped get a ridiculous number of unnecessary changes passed to supposed stop the speeding which never occurs in the first place.
This week’s poll comes after I picked up my new iPhone5 last weekend and The Wife picked up her first smartphone ever with an iPhone4S. We moved to Verizon to take advantage of their LTE network since AT&T’s three locations in the Metro are unavailable to us. I know there are quite a few people, myself included, who feel their smartphone OS of choice is superior to the other but I want to hear from you why you chose the one you did and why you feel the need to stick with it.
I tried a few Android phones over the years, including the highly touted Galaxy SIII, and found them to be poorly constructed, cheap feeling, and running an OS which I long ago abandoned on the desktop because it was never provided an acceptable experience even though I really loved the underlying system (FWIW, Lazy Lightning has been running on Linux since before Day 1 and will likely always run on it). This feeling has continued through to mobile phones and regardless of what Androids fans say, it has a very long way to go to become as polished as iOS.
So which do you use and why? With many studies showing that a majority of Android users are planning on switching to iOS, with very few iOS users planning to go the other way, which camp do you fall in here? Whatever you have to say about this one go ahead and vote on the sidebar and then comment on below as I’d love to hear your thoughts.
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September 30th, 2012 at 8:30 am
I currently run a Samsung Infuse 3G on AT&T and I have a love/hate relationship with it. If I don’t restart the phone at least once a day, it will get bogged down and lock up. I have cleaned most of the apps off, but the AT&T/Samsung bloatware are what are killing me. Also, Samsung refuses to release OS updates to older phones, so I am stuck on the last official update which was obsolete before it came out. I am sure that if I hack the phone and install a more stable OS, and remove the bloatware, I would be much happier with it, but it is not so simple for my model. My girlfriend has an iPhone and I have to admit, it is much more polished that Android. If I wasn’t so anti-Apple, I might be won over, but I feel you are overpaying for the Apple name with their products.
September 30th, 2012 at 9:16 am
I’ve had a Droid X2 3G on Verizon since April and love it. I’ve never had any significant issues with it. I went with it because I wanted to stick with my Verizon unlimited data plan that I’d had for two years (with my Blackberry Curve) and the X2 was the best phone I could upgrade to for what I wanted to pay (i.e. free or very cheap). My first smartphone, before the Blackberry, was a Palm Centro on Sprint that I used for 2.5 years.
Personally, I couldn’t care less what kind of phone someone wants to use. Or computer, or game console, or whatever. People should just use what meets their needs. It’s entirely possible that, at some point down the road, I will switch to iOS.
September 30th, 2012 at 10:29 am
I am waiting for my iPhone 5 to arrive in early October. I currently have an HTC Hero that I originally bought for my wife. She hated it so I got stuck with it.
It was incredibly slow so I rooted it and upgraded the version of Android to Honeycomb. The process was far too complicated, but the phone performed better. A year later, I discovered that the flavor of Android I installed didn’t get antenna upgrades from Sprint, so I had to re-install the original OS and get the new antenna locations, then install my Honeycomb again. Far too much hassle.
I am looking forward to having a well constructed phone with a solid OS. I wish Sprint would upgrade to LTE sooner, but I have too good a deal with them to leave them.
September 30th, 2012 at 11:26 am
NWR, until you see how fast LTE is and you say “holy hell”. It’s almost as fast as my business class cable connection downstream and faster, at times, upstream.
September 30th, 2012 at 11:31 am
I’m a long-time Mac fan, having used them since about 1988 or so, at home and at work. I finally bought an iPhone 4S last October (my first smartphone) and what appeals to me is that a)it just works, and b)it gets along with my iMac, MacBook and iPad perfectly. I can keep all my devices synced easily, and I don’t have to worry about a bunch of garbage getting loaded on any of them.
There are a lot of complaints from people about Apple’s locked-down system, but I would rather live with that than have to deal with malware getting on my phone through an open system.
September 30th, 2012 at 4:06 pm
Droid for almost 3 years. It’s fine.
September 30th, 2012 at 6:30 pm
I’m committed to iOS since all my other devices are Apple. It wouldn’t make sense to have a MacBook, iPad, AirPorts and not an iPhone, would it?
September 30th, 2012 at 6:38 pm
Waiting for my Windows phone.
September 30th, 2012 at 8:11 pm
While I can see the lure of the Iphone, or the stank of Android for some, I make an effort to avoid apple products. If their pricing ever becomes competitive that might change. But I really don’t feel like paying extra for their name when they operate in a closed system where they do things only the apple way and if I don’t like it tough.
I think many with IOS6 upgrades are seeing the pain of this with the stupid maps upgrade. Sure, there are other mapping programs you can use, but, you can’t hook it into the system so that when you click on a link it will open up your alternate program. Android allows multiple apps to register as the host for a specific behavior and Android will prompt you for which one to use, as well as let you pick a default.
My first smart phone was an original Droid. 2 years later that was replaced by a Droid x2, my current phone. do I have a thing for Motorola? nah, just was the best phone at the point in time for the money. (Droid X2 was .01 off amazon wireless). They are near indestructible. I dropped my original droid on the ground, had it fly across the garage, serious accidents with battery cover and battery flying off it. Other than a couple scratches, just fine, and no.. .no screen protector.
Do I wish android was better. yes. Do I know why Android isn’t as smooth as IOS? yep, the rendering engines are completely different designs.
My next phone may be a Windows phone as the new Lumia 920 is very compelling. But i feel my budget will have me back to one generation back Android phone. Doesn’t hurt I suppose since I use gmail, have google voice, use google docs…etc..
LTE is pretty fast today. It’ll be curious to see if it can maintain that. Remember, you might have 30Mbps to the tower, but the tower has to get to the internet. I’ll be curious to see what that ends up meaning.
p.s. I am not happy about the cost of cellular service these days. Way too expensive.
September 30th, 2012 at 8:28 pm
30 yrs old and still never owned a cellphone. Yes, it is possible.
September 30th, 2012 at 8:45 pm
Windows Phone user here. I’m currently on a Nokia Lumia 900 running windows phone 7.5. I’m an AT&T user for a variety of reasons, and I have few complaints with them. I did not choose to join the cult of apple, nor did I like the free for all problems of android.
As for the phone, I’ve had no issues whatsoever with it. No need for reboots or other annoyances. It just runs smoothly. I’m slightly annoyed that I cannot upgrade to windows 8 when it comes out, but it is what it is. the joys of technology.
I for one am hopeful that windows continue to make some inroads in this market, as I see competition as beneficial.
September 30th, 2012 at 8:57 pm
I honestly don’t use my phone for much other than calls/texts/directions and white noise for the baby at night (GREAT APP), so I don’t need a fancy phone right now. I may change my mind when my contract is up, but for now, my crappy Galaxy S does the job.
October 1st, 2012 at 8:08 am
I could have upgraded my wife’s 3gs to get a 5, but since I still have a year to go on my current plan for my 4s, and since the only compelling reason I see is to get an 4G enabled iPhone (I’m on AT&T), I think i’ll wait until I see how the suposid 4G network upgrade that they claim that they are going to do by the end of this year here in the Twin Cities market goes.
Why pay (and commit to another 2 year contract) for something that may not work well?
October 1st, 2012 at 9:37 am
Mikeh,
This isn’t just 30mbit to the tower. It’s 30mbit to some server elsewhere (usually Minnetonka or Eau Claire). And with the proliferation of Android-based devices running on LTE, I’m guessing they have the wired bandwidth to handle the connections–at least in short bursts. Whether VZW will be able to handle it with iOS devices added to the mix, I have no idea.
However, bandwidth is cheap. I really don’t understand the high cost of data and the bandwidth limits aside from the fact that the carriers know most people wouldn’t know the difference anyway.
October 1st, 2012 at 9:37 am
Wow rusty,
You may be the only person between the ages of 14-30 in the country that does not own a phone. I am pretty sure that many of your peers don’t even know how to communicate otherwise (sort of not kidding).
Well, whatever reason you have for staying in the 60′s I wish you well (the 1860′s).
And I thought I was the caveman because I am still using an iPhone 3G.
lefty
October 1st, 2012 at 9:39 am
lefty,
Rusty is a hippie. As for your still running a 3G, I’m shocked you can do anything. My 3G was miserably slow two years ago when I upgraded to the 4. And now the 5 makes the 4 look like a piece of shit.
October 1st, 2012 at 10:26 am
Apple 4S for now. I have long disdained the cult of Mac, but I switched from a primitive, slow Blackberry to get all the snazzy apps and a much faster experience. I thought of Android, but prefer the fact that Apple supports their phones with OS updates longer than most players in the Android space. And after having been something of a techie in decades gone by, now I’m not interested in tweaking my electronic devices.
October 1st, 2012 at 11:48 am
J, the “cult of mac” thing is an annoying cliché… from both sides. Your phone is a device; a tool. If you have an iPhone 4s and you like, good on you. The end.
October 1st, 2012 at 1:34 pm
Verizon consistently has the best coverage in places I am. I got a Droid x2 back when Verizon only provided service to android smart phones. I really like the pull-out keyboard on Motorola phones, but they seem to be the only manufacturer who makes them that way.
October 1st, 2012 at 2:13 pm
Well, since I only use my 3G for talking, texting and checking my fantasy football score, I am not to worried about performance. Are there other uses for iPhones?
October 1st, 2012 at 2:23 pm
Status symbol.
October 1st, 2012 at 2:27 pm
Good point. It’s clear the only reason Bill did this poll was because he wanted to brag about his stupid new phone that 4,999,999 other people also bought last week.
Oh Bill, you’re so cool. Everybody wants to be you.
October 1st, 2012 at 2:39 pm
Actually, I chose it instead of putting up a poll that said, “I don’t feel like writing a post on Saturday evening or Sunday morning just so I can get flak because few people take the time to give me new and interesting poll ideas” and offered the choices of: “ABOUT TIME” and “FUCK YES!”
October 1st, 2012 at 2:45 pm
You should do a poll where people vote for their favorite New and Interesting Poll idea. If you do that, than you will have a whole bunch of New and Interesting Poll ideas imbedded in your poll.
I know, I just blew your mind.
October 3rd, 2012 at 11:06 am
I have covers on my phone and computer that try to mask their logos, because I don’t buy my tools to illicit opinions about their brand from others.
October 4th, 2012 at 8:11 am
I have a 3G Samsung Galaxy 2nd generation. I got it for nothing (except a contract) with T Mobile, had it for 1.5 years, perfectly happy with it. I was an Iphone user but ATT coverage in Burnsville and parts of outstate MN and North Dakota where i travel on business was just awful, I got sick of dropped calls and crappy customer service. I know they had Verizon by then but the Verizon version was limited for overseas travel so I switched to Android and Samsung and T Mobile. I did buy an ipad recently as grew tired of lugging my laptop around travelling. IOS 6 map upgrade a farce, i just iconed google maps on my ipad and dont have to deal with their map app. Apple’s syncing capability beats the socks off android/samsung, that is my main complaint. Still i will probably upgrade to a new samsung galaxy when the contract expires.
October 5th, 2012 at 1:40 pm
I used my ipod Touch as my “smart phone”/time waster for quite some time but when it came time to actually get a smart phone, I went with an android, specifically the Samsung Galaxy Nexus on Verizon. Provider wasn’t something I got to choose as the wife was already committed.
Compared to the iPhone 4 on Verizon, it had a bigger screen, it was faster (4G vs 3G), more customizable, standard mini-usb connection and at the time Verizon was offering twice the data forever at the same price if you went with android.
I am very happy with the choice, however, I did notice a problem recently when looking at the mobile theme of LL. I just tried it on my buddy’s iPhone and it still works…. Bill – are you intentional sabotaging us android users? Honestly, I think it started being a problem when I upgrade from Ice Cream Sandwich to Jelly Bean.
October 5th, 2012 at 1:41 pm
Matt, I use a plugin to create the mobile version. Honestly, I turn it off anyway.
October 5th, 2012 at 1:42 pm
FYI: I deleted a duplicate comment of Matt G’s.
October 5th, 2012 at 1:43 pm
sorry for the duplicate post
October 5th, 2012 at 1:44 pm
When the mobile theme works, I can see the button to turn it off…
October 5th, 2012 at 1:47 pm
Matt, I’ll see if I can find another plugin to do the work. I certainly don’t want to lose the .001% of people who view the site on their Android phone (BTW, iOS accounts for 2% of traffic).
October 5th, 2012 at 2:15 pm
Obviously, you can’t account for every different OS, device and browser out there. I’ve personally tested two different browsers on my phone – same results. Not trying to be difficult – just pointing out that those running Jelly Bean may be having problems reading your content. FWIW: feel free to contact me if you need a guinea pig – you’ve got my email address.
October 5th, 2012 at 3:38 pm
Iphone 4s are free if you qualify for an upgrade at Verizon right now. For those who just need a communications device and aren’t hot for the latest romantic toys.
October 5th, 2012 at 11:23 pm
for another data point. Site works just fine with mobile on or off on my Droid X2 using the stock browser. Though I have to be pretty board and not at home and not at work to try web browsing on my phone.
Sorry, no screen caps.
October 7th, 2012 at 7:02 am
[...] week’s poll asked whether you were an Android or iOS user. It was a dead heat with Android getting one more vote than iOS but the website’s statistics [...]
October 8th, 2012 at 8:39 am
just got my I5 saturday. 2 to 3 week waiting period, it came in 8 days. i’m happier than a pig in shit:)
bb
October 11th, 2012 at 4:17 pm
I am an Android fan. I am currently looking forward to getting a device with Jelly Bean OS and Near Field Communications.
For me, I use Android for a VERY good reason. The developer experience is SO much better. I don’t need to write my programs using Apple devices or any particular brand. The developer program only involves a one-time fee, not $100 per year whether I use it or not. The vetting of applications is less, so I can post an app update immediately and have my code in people’s hands nearly instantly. I can choose any Integrated Development Environment I like. I can debug my code directly on the device with full access to all features and variables.
Also, I’ll take NFC technology any day over Siri or an odd aspect ratio, high resolution screen. I’m already developing interesting apps with great use cases for NFC tags. I was shocked when iPhone 5 left it out.