What Phone Do You Have?

[2clicks]

It all comes down to optimisation. You can have a phone with very good specs on paper, but will perform poorly in practice, because the software has not been properly optimised. Apple released iOS 8 updates for the iPhone 4, yet people are complaining about how slow and resource-intensive it is. On the Android side of things, a phone running 2.3 Gingerbread is capable of upgrading to 4.4 KitKat, but you'd expect that to be extremely demanding on the phone's dated hardware. The point is, if you know your way around optimisation and advanced hardware use, and are keen about customisation, get an Android, if you don't, get an iPhone.

 

[Saidur_Ali]

For roughly half the price (if the rumours about the Nexus 6's price I've seen are correct).

And still, not beating the competition in performance unless throttling is factored in? I don't know. Doesn't seem like the iPhone 6 Plus would offer great bang for your buck. Just my impression, really.

649 Euros I hear the rumour is for the 64GB version Nexus 6, iPhone 6 Plus 64GB version is 899 Euros. I imagine also the iPhone 6 Plus will hold its value much better given the Nexus 6 will look very weak in terms of performance in the space of a few months and iPhones generally hold their value really well and are already using the latest architecture and process node available. Bang for your buck, Nexus 6 I think is very poor value for your money. Apple have ridiculous large mark up but still can compete on price and performance which is quite an achievement. I wouldn't be surprised if they could sell it at half the price of the Nexus 6 and still make loads of money from their new iPhone. I sort of expect the Nexus 6 to be worth less than iPhone 5C within 6 months of launch.

If you don't factor in throttling, still the iPhone 6 will likely beat it in most performance measurements but at the end of the day I think it is good that as a phone, you have peace of mind that it will likely run majority of apps faster and longer for majority of time you are using while using less power than something that maybe the ROM is benchmark optimised but when it comes to actual use, might be half the performance or less while running hotter and using more battery.

It all comes down to optimisation. You can have a phone with very good specs on paper, but will perform poorly in practice, because the software has not been properly optimised. Apple released iOS 8 updates for the iPhone 4, yet people are complaining about how slow and resource-intensive it is. On the Android side of things, a phone running 2.3 Gingerbread is capable of upgrading to 4.4 KitKat, but you'd expect that to be extremely demanding on the phone's dated hardware. The point is, if you know your way around optimisation and advanced hardware use, and are keen about customisation, get an Android, if you don't, get an iPhone.

Both are quite optimised, I imagine iOS and its apps will in general be better as the target is for limited number of hardware configurations that are very popular.

 

[Luminis]

Hm, I was under the impression that a retailer leaked the price to be ~450 €. Must've been false, my bad.

 

[Legro]

I imagine also the iPhone 6 Plus will hold its value much better

While that may be true it doesn't really matter as smart-phones don't really hold their value much better than laptops made in 2011.

 

[Saidur_Ali]

Hm, I was under the impression that a retailer leaked the price to be ~450 €. Must've been false, my bad.

It is interesting to see the pricing of the new Nexus tablet and Nexus phone, it seems they are pricing higher than before so their partners have an easier time of selling there products at higher prices and in more volume.

While that may be true it doesn't really matter as smart-phones don't really hold their value much better than laptops made in 2011.

An example would be good but all Apple products generally hold their value really well compared to competitor products. iPad Air 2 is much better value than say iPhone but I guess they could still have sold it a lot cheaper if they wanted to. I was surprised to see a used Macbook Air Core 2 Duo version sell not much less than a new 4th Gen i5 Macbook Air.

 

[Luminis]

It is interesting to see the pricing of the new Nexus tablet and Nexus phone, it seems they are pricing higher than before so their partners have an easier time of selling there products at higher prices and in more volume.

It seems that way. It's not hard to imagie companies like Samsung not being too happy with super cheap Nexuses undercutting their products by a significant margin. Was a good strategy to up Android's market share, though.

 

[kikie]

Talked to another friend of the same store. He's more of an authority when it comes to computers, programming, webdesging, network etc... .

He is no fanboy and said to get Android if I should get a smartphone. There is nothing wrong with Android and can be trusted, he said.

He has the LG 3G and said that this is very good smartphone.

 

[TB]

There is nothing wrong with Android and can be trusted, he said.

Listen to this one. He knows what he's talking about.

 

[kikie]

Listen to this one. He knows what he's talking about.

I will. I'm convinced now. I trust Nick's advice.

 

[terminator363]

I've been thinking of making the switch to Android but I'm so used to Win phone I don't know how I will get around the learning curve... I'm also afraid of Bloatware/weird freeware on Android. I know a couple people who have Samsung Galaxies and their homescreens are filled with widgets and all this 🤬. And you must always press a button to go into icon menu. Is Android always like this?

 

[Luminis]

Android's not always like this. It's the manufacturer's choice. And while Samsung or Sony might add a lot of stuff on top of the original Android system, there are manufacturers that offer a more or less "pure" version. The Nexus 5 comes with an absolutely stock Android 4.4 and the recent Motorola phones don't have a lot of OEM bloatware and stuff on it, either. So, no, Android is absolutely not always like that. The stock Android also has a lot of room for icons on the home screen - unless you want to add widgets.

Plus, you could always replace the modified versions of Android with a stock OS. I'm not very knowledgable in terms of custom ROMs on phones, though, but I'm sure there are quite a few guys on here who'd help you out with that stuff.

 

[Lameonade]

I've been thinking of making the switch to Android but I'm so used to Win phone I don't know how I will get around the learning curve... I'm also afraid of Bloatware/weird freeware on Android. I know a couple people who have Samsung Galaxies and their homescreens are filled with widgets and all this 🤬. And you must always press a button to go into icon menu. Is Android always like this?

I'm actually going to be switching to a LG G3 this December. Coming from an HTC 8X, it'll be a big change for me to get used to as well. Since I'm somewhat tech savvy, I think I will get used to flipping between pages instead of scrolling up and down. The only thing that'll hit me hard is the switch from Microsoft's services to Google's. I'm not too keen on that part, so that'll take a while longer to get accustomed to. Bloatware isn't an issue for me because I'll probably find some way or another to remove it (I've also heard talk that LG will implement a bloatware removing tool in its software ). But anyway, that's me. You'll probably get used to it quicker than you think.

 

[terminator363]

Android's not always like this. It's the manufacturer's choice. And while Samsung or Sony might add a lot of stuff on top of the original Android system, there are manufacturers that offer a more or less "pure" version. The Nexus 5 comes with an absolutely stock Android 4.4 and the recent Motorola phones don't have a lot of OEM bloatware and stuff on it, either. So, no, Android is absolutely not always like that. The stock Android also has a lot of room for icons on the home screen - unless you want to add widgets.

Plus, you could always replace the modified versions of Android with a stock OS. I'm not very knowledgable in terms of custom ROMs on phones, though, but I'm sure there are quite a few guys on here who'd help you out with that stuff.

Thanks, couldn't have asked for a better explanation 👍.

 

[Kamuifanboy]

So, I've pretty much decided to purchase both an iPhone 6 Plus and Nexus 6. Use the iPhone 6 Plus with my Vodafone Italy SIM card, and the Nexus 6 with my DoCoMo (Japan) SIM. This pretty much leaves me open to using the two best phones in the world! Would really love to get the Nokia Lumia Phablet as well but, I just don't really care for Windows mobile all that much. It seems great (from reviews) but, something about it just doesn't make me "Want" it.

Have to continue to use my Galaxy Note 3 in the meantime though, while the iPhone is on a 3-4 week wait and the Nexus has no release date as of yet.

 

[Team THRT Drift]

What I don't like about Windows phones is the constant nagging to sync your phone with your hotmail account. If you don't have one... guess, what? You have to make one!

Sync! Sync! Sync! Sync!

Otherwise, Windows phones look pretty good. Cortana has the most character so far.... well, she is a character.

 

[sems4arsenal]

I've been thinking of making the switch to Android but I'm so used to Win phone I don't know how I will get around the learning curve... I'm also afraid of Bloatware/weird freeware on Android. I know a couple people who have Samsung Galaxies and their homescreens are filled with widgets and all this 🤬. And you must always press a button to go into icon menu. Is Android always like this?

They can be as bloated or minimal as you like, that's the beauty of android, I think just rooting the phone without installing a custom rom can remove the preinstalled bloatware apps, but to be honest even with last year's flagships the performance is so good you probably would not need to.

 

[Xilor]

Slightly off topic, but does anyone know a good website to look for cell phone cases? Trying to find a good high quality one on eBay or Amazon is like searching for a needle in a landfill.

 

[Saidur_Ali]

So, I've pretty much decided to purchase both an iPhone 6 Plus and Nexus 6. Use the iPhone 6 Plus with my Vodafone Italy SIM card, and the Nexus 6 with my DoCoMo (Japan) SIM. This pretty much leaves me open to using the two best phones in the world! Would really love to get the Nokia Lumia Phablet as well but, I just don't really care for Windows mobile all that much. It seems great (from reviews) but, something about it just doesn't make me "Want" it.

Have to continue to use my Galaxy Note 3 in the meantime though, while the iPhone is on a 3-4 week wait and the Nexus has no release date as of yet.

I imagine going from a Note 3 to Nexus 6 won't be much of an upgrade, better to use Note 3 until March 2015 and get a high end Android smartphone then like maybe Sony Xperia Z4 or Samsung Galaxy S6 or HTC One M9.

 

[Luminis]

Trying SO hard to place my preorder for the OnePlus One, but their god damn website is down, probably due to the amount of people trying to access it at the same time

 

[grrlpurple]

Sony Xperia Z2 for me currently... have had a string of Sony phones of late and never been more satisfied. I absolutely love my Z2

 

[acascianelli]

Apple released iOS 8 updates for the iPhone 4

iPhone 4's did not get iOS 8, the 4S, iPad 2 and 1st gen iPad mini are the oldest devices you can load iOS 8 on.

 

[ProjectWHaT]

New proud owner of a OnePlus One phone

 

[Luminis]

New proud owner of a OnePlus One phone

Same here! About four to six weeks until it's going to be in the mail! So excited

 

[terminator363]

They can be as bloated or minimal as you like, that's the beauty of android, I think just rooting the phone without installing a custom rom can remove the preinstalled bloatware apps, but to be honest even with last year's flagships the performance is so good you probably would not need to.

Ok so after looking at a lot of Android options it seems like this is the software for me. Going to ditch my Windows phone after a bit.

Edit: I also really like the design/price point of the Nexus 5. The OnePlus One is too big for me unfortunately.

Edit 2: [RANT MODE ON] After thinking about it, there are too many little things that drive me to the edge with Windows Phone. The fact you can only have 4 toggles in the slide down notification bar is annoying because you can practically have unlimited toggles in Android as you can simply slide to view more. Four buttons and that's it. if you want to change brightness, etc. and you don't want it to take up an icon, well you're screwed. You have to go into settings (which are still terribly laid out) and adjust brightness from there. This is what I mean:

Unlike Windows, in Android you can access all functions by swiping those icons left and right. I'm actually surprised no one mentions this in the Windows community. Everyone is so amazed they have an action center that they completely ignore missing essentials like this.

This is a problem I've come across too many times in WP8.1 the phone is full of these little limitations and it drives me nuts. The other thing that frustrates me is the lack of integration of official apps. Even though this is known to so many people I'm tired of seeing WP users happy with poor adaptations of third party apps. There shouldn't be third party apps in the first place. I'm tired of using "Audiocloud" for Soundcloud. I want the functionality of the official app, I want the complete experience. Live tiles aren't all that great either. It's solely the app's responsibility to have a functioning live tile. Foursquare, Skype, etc, are all broken because as many know and it seems support for WP apps is pathetic. And contrary to popular belief live tile shortcuts for webpages are not "Living and breathing", they are simple screenshots of the website the moment you pinned it to your start menu. Ever since I bought my Windows Phone - and to this day it feels like Microsoft (and myself for that matter) have been waiting to make it perfect, one day in the future. One day it will tower over the other mobile OSs after several thousand updates - but it will be too late because by the time they update iOS and Android would have already rolled out with something better and more stable. I've been waiting for that perfect WP OS ever since day one and I'm finished. I just want a complete phone to begin with not some half completed software that makes you beg for the day it will be finished. And for these reasons I am done with WP8.1. I just feel like a guinea pig while everyone else has a functioning phone. [RANT MODE OFF/]

 

[Kamuifanboy]

I imagine going from a Note 3 to Nexus 6 won't be much of an upgrade, better to use Note 3 until March 2015 and get a high end Android smartphone then like maybe Sony Xperia Z4 or Samsung Galaxy S6 or HTC One M9.

I'm finished with phones that run things over stock Android. I like touchwiz very much but, it uses so much processing power and ram that it seems to kill battery and phone life quite a lot. With the Nexus 6, the big battery with decent specs and stock Android. I'm thinking the battery and phone life will be quite impressive. Similarly the Nexus devices are the first to get Android updates as well.

 

[Saidur_Ali]

I'm finished with phones that run things over stock Android. I like touchwiz very much but, it uses so much processing power and ram that it seems to kill battery and phone life quite a lot. With the Nexus 6, the big battery with decent specs and stock Android. I'm thinking the battery and phone life will be quite impressive. Similarly the Nexus devices are the first to get Android updates as well.

There might be a new Nexus in a few months time going against the norm as there will be a sizeable advancement for most Android phones coming with next Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. Last Nexus didn't have that good battery life as well as the previous phone so I don't think it will make much of a difference, wouldn't be surprised if you get worse battery life than your current Note 3.

However it does have a fast charge option which should be useful and like you said Android updates first is good to have. Honestly though, don't see point of going from Note 3 to the Nexus 6, you will more or less get the same performance and similar battery life. There is a huge improvement around the corner that will likely drop the prices of current flagship phones and will allow maximum use of Android L too.

 

[synchromesh]

Slightly off topic, but does anyone know a good website to look for cell phone cases? Trying to find a good high quality one on eBay or Amazon is like searching for a needle in a landfill.

I'd check your phone service store. Where you go to get a new phone, they have accesories too.

 

[Cobra_GT500]

I have the IPhone 4S. I've been looking at getting a iPhone 6 or I Phone 6 plus.

 

[2clicks]

I'm finished with phones that run things over stock Android. I like touchwiz very much but, it uses so much processing power and ram that it seems to kill battery and phone life quite a lot. With the Nexus 6, the big battery with decent specs and stock Android. I'm thinking the battery and phone life will be quite impressive. Similarly the Nexus devices are the first to get Android updates as well.

Rooting and Cyanogenmod is always a faster, more efficient option for devices with custom launchers.

 

[sems4arsenal]

Do the android skins really affect the phones? I know it will make them slower but with the flagship specs on the last year or so, don't think you can notice it.