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An iPhone lover’s confession: I switched to the Nexus 4

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Re: An iPhone lover’s confession: I switched to the Nexus 4

#181
post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope, I don't feel that. Maybe it's because I'm used to using older equipment - I used a HTC Dream up until 12 months ago. Edit: HTC Dream was used for 3 years roughly, from Android 1.1 until 4.0 ROM's started coming out.

Or maybe it's because you started from a clean slate ... (I'm using mine for more than 3 years now)

Yeah, I never keep equipment for that long without wiping. At most every 12 months I do a proper wipe and upgrade.

Re: An iPhone lover’s confession: I switched to the Nexus 4

#182

"Solving the inconsistencies grouped around the back button" Android's back button used to be incredibly inconsistent and hard to predict, but now there's a fairly well established standard for this, which is supported by the API ( http://developer.android.com/design/patterns/navigation.html ). There was even a full-length Google IO session on it ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwGHJJYBs0Q ). It doesn't mean all app…

The main issue with the back button is that devs love to mess around with how it works by default, usually to satisfy some kind of architecture that doesn't make sense in the first place on an Android device. From what I've seen of people's Android code, a lot of folks don't grok the Activity and Fragments APIs at first and end up making huge mistakes or creating excessive architectures to try and 'solve' the problem. Unfortunately, this is a kind of chicken and egg problem, since a lot of Android apps are done by hobbyists who need time and practice to get up to speed or by commercial companies that don't care for or don't have any idea on how their product should work on Android.

Re: An iPhone lover’s confession: I switched to the Nexus 4

#183
post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree - widgets are enormously important to me, and were the deciding factor in my choosing an android phone. I'm quite forgetful, and I have a tendency to focus on one thing to the exclusion of others. Widgets allow me to display important information on my home screen that will be shown to me every time I look at the phone . This means that I can have a list of (for example) upcoming birthdays on my phone that…

But see, you have analyzed that you desperately needed some kind of birthday widget and that iOS didn't suit your particular needs. You switched over or went directly to Android. That's fine, you have an alternative and you seem happy with it. However, I despise such things. I've analyzed that I wouldn't stand using Android for those reasons, and that I'm better off with iOS. I go with Apple's motto: "there's an app…

That's absolutely fair enough - I love that there's a variety of options out there for everyone, and I'm never going to criticise someone for finding what works for them.

I guess my point was more about the statement that there's no need for customization if the OS is well-designed - to my mind, there may be no need for customization for many (or perhaps even a majority) of users, but there is for some. An OS that tried to serve all niche needs without allowing customization would likely be a confused mess - and yet, for those users, having their niche need served can be extremely important.

Re: An iPhone lover’s confession: I switched to the Nexus 4

#184

Unlike most people commenting here, I got a sub-200$ Android (Huawei G300). I got it a few days ago through Amazon just to try something new, and it's way better than I expected it to be. I first had an iPhone when it came out, then moved to a BlackBerry (weird, I know), and now I'm considering staying with Android, at least for daily use. I still have to stick to the BlackBerry as it's the only phone on the market t…

OT: Speaking of the G300, I'd recommend moving to CyanogenMod9 on the G300 -- I think it's much better than the default ICS it ships with (CM10 and above are still quite shaky, although it's fine for my needs).

I understand if you'd prefer to not to mess with your phone and use the default install, but if you feel like getting your hands dirty g300.modaco.com is the place for alternate ROMS.

Best £70 (PAYG, but I guess there is still some operator subsidy in that price) I spent on a phone.

Re: An iPhone lover’s confession: I switched to the Nexus 4

#185
post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You completely missed my point. It has nothing to do with scrolling while reading. It only has to do with when I'm at the top or bottom of a page/list. If that is the case, what is the diference between scrolling and nothing moves but you get a flash of color, vs some text moves and you see a bit of the background.

If the text is moving, it's harder to read stuff.

So you’re saying you scroll while you read, and it's a noticeable advantage than when you hit the bottom your reading is slightly easier because the page didn't move a fraction.

I would have thought if you are already scrolling and reading, the slight decrease in distance when you hit the bottom would be less distracting than a total change in behavior.

Re: An iPhone lover’s confession: I switched to the Nexus 4

#186
post #43
post #6

I agree with what the article says about sharing data between applications, this really is one of the biggest pain points of iOS right now. Fortunately, it looks like Apple will finally address this in the future, iOS 6 already has infrastructure in place to allow for remote view controllers that (in theory) should allow any application to register itself to handle certain data and events. Right now seems to be only…

Oh and of course you can 'customize everything' and here you have 4 examples of the most ugly homescreens I have ever seen on a mobile phone. Good grief, you speak of personlisation like it's a bug and not a feature. I personally hate the iOS window-dressing. You have this sleek-looking bit of hardware, but the OS looks plastic and Fisher-Price, with safe and chunky buttons to give to your kid with no sharp edges. Th…

The moment you say "fanboy" and/or "cult" in reply to a comment you lose a lot of credibility.

" the Apple-spawned fanboy cult"

This is a completely meaningless phrase. It's easy to accuse people of this and impossible to prove. Furthermore when you say something along the lines of "you're just a fanboy of company X" the other guy can just come back and say "well you're a fanboy of company Y" and then everyone sounds ridiculous.

But to your point, I personally like the Apple design and I think that too much customization really can make a beautifully designed piece of hardware look like crap. That said, I also understand that other people either really love customizing their phones and/or have awful taste and that's fine and for them, iOS isn't the best choice. Whatevs. It happens. The thing is, you can't please all the people all the time so I'd say it's a great thing that Apple limits what you can do to personalize the phone. That's one thing that attracts people like me to it. Luckily they're not the only game in town so for the others you have choices.

You're really taking this as a direct insult it seems. I wish you wouldn't have made that fanboy crack because you did have a decent point in there under all the anger.

Re: An iPhone lover’s confession: I switched to the Nexus 4

#187
post #60
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh and of course you can 'customize everything' and here you have 4 examples of the most ugly homescreens I have ever seen on a mobile phone. Good grief, you speak of personlisation like it's a bug and not a feature. I personally hate the iOS window-dressing. You have this sleek-looking bit of hardware, but the OS looks plastic and Fisher-Price, with safe and chunky buttons to give to your kid with no sharp edges. Th…

I am happy with the apple default. I would not be happy with the default android layout, and I have tried to be. I don't spend my time changing my desktop items. I don't customise my chrome borders, fiddle with rainmeter, etc. I don't even change my desktop background from the first one I got years and years ago. This may not be a very "hacker" attitude, but for me I just want function by default. Personalisation is…

I'm totally with you on this. On both my iPhone and Macbook I don't change the desktop background or much else from the day I get it. There are other things like the terminal colors and such that I do but for the most part I leave the design alone. Now, customization is obviously very important to people and if it is then that's a great reason to switch to a platform other than iOS. But is it a reason that iOS is worse or better than some other platform? Absolutely not. There is room in this world for things to just be different rather than better or worse.

Re: An iPhone lover’s confession: I switched to the Nexus 4

#188
post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't read the article but I was an iPhone3 for a year, nexus 1 for a year, nexus s for a year and now iPhone 4S for a year. Things I still miss: I still miss that android apps can download in the background so for example when I wake up I the morning any new podcasts I'm subscribed to are already on the phone. Contrast to iOS6 where I have to remember to manually run the app. Which generally means I only run it…

You can do this kind-of on the iPhone. Some apps support the geo fence wake-up thing that lets them update subscriptions. For example, you can set your home address in Downcast or Instapaper so that when you leave or arrive, those apps will fetch new content without you having to open the app. Downcast will even download the podcasts in the background. Now, this requires you to move outside the fence, so it's not tim…

wouldn't this be the same as initiating the download as you prepare to leave the house? you'll still have to wait the 2-6 minutes for the podcast

Re: An iPhone lover’s confession: I switched to the Nexus 4

#189

Been an Android user for a year (Galaxy Tab 8.9) and was going to get an iPhone 5 last Christmas just to try out a different device. I changed my mind and am getting a Nexus 4 instead. I was able to use one of our test iPhones at work for a primary phone and here are just 3 things I don't like about iOS: 1. Toggling settings can be difficult. In Android, you have a pull-up/pull-down menu right from the home screen wh…

Bluetooth is for your xbox controller, not sending files

Re: An iPhone lover’s confession: I switched to the Nexus 4

#190
post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't read the article but I was an iPhone3 for a year, nexus 1 for a year, nexus s for a year and now iPhone 4S for a year. Things I still miss: I still miss that android apps can download in the background so for example when I wake up I the morning any new podcasts I'm subscribed to are already on the phone. Contrast to iOS6 where I have to remember to manually run the app. Which generally means I only run it…

The downside of auto-downloading is that your tablet/phone will run out of battery much faster than on iOS. iOS has stand by times of weeks (31 days?), which is wonderful. My nexus 7 runs dry after days, arguably because of the apps I use, or because the OS allows them. I'm unsure which I prefer, though I'd like to be able to configure a trade-off between the two myself..

There is a setting to turn off background wifi when not plugged in; that should solve your problem on the nexus 7.
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