You will miss Widgets, aftermarket keyboards, screen size, removable batteries and SD Cards, Non proprietary Micro USB charging, not having to use Itunes, customization.

I know some of those issues are finally fixed on the new phone, but I don't know if that will be the case on the legacy phones like the 5C.

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mainly just talk, text, google searches, sometimes navigation.

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You ain't gonna miss anything.

3rd party keyboards are coming to iOS8, correct? Personally, that's the only advantage i care about that android has over iOS right now.

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You will miss Widgets

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Ios8

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aftermarket keyboards

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Ios8

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screen size,

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Opinion

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removable batteries

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Plenty of high end android phones lack this

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and SD Cards

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Plenty of high end android phones lack this. And who seriously still needs sd cards in a phone?

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non proprietary Micro USB charging,

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Ok, I guess that could be something he would "miss"

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not having to use Itunes

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You don't have to use itunes if you don't want to.

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customization.

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And the old android standby. "I can change my icons and put a giant redundant clock widget on my homescreen!!!"

As a current owner of an iPad 2, iPadMini, Google Nexus, 7, and a Nokia Lumia Windows Phone, I need to address your post points individually:

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You will miss Widgets, Legitimate. I like the widgets on the Nexus 7

aftermarket keyboards, Meh. I switched a bunch around on my N7, Swype was decent but I just couldn't get used to it. Overall, unless your are REALLY picky about the look of your onscreen keyboard, this won't be any loss of note

screen size, If he had gone with a 6 or 6+, thus wouldn't be an issue. But before that, he's going to have the smaller screen. Now, whether his current android phone is large screen or not will really determine if hes giving this up, or just staying consistent. Semi-legit depending on circumstance.

removable batteries No. No one misses removable batteries. After switching around different phones and hardware, I have yet to "miss" carrying around an extra battery for extended life. My phone (iPhone 5) lasts about a day on charge (6:00AM - 10PM) with normal use. When I travel, there are charging stations everywhere and at work, I can always plug in if I need to (same with any phone, really). Unless you are working in a field all day with no where to plug in, removable battery should not be a "downside" factor in a switch.

and SD Cards, This is the biggie. Though my N7 doesn't have an SD slot, the Nokia does, and it's much easier to add storage that way, rather than pay twice as much to buy more storage on the phone. This is one that I wish Apple would get with the times on, and I also wish Android tablet makers would standardize on as well.

Non proprietary Micro USB charging, No. The lightning charger is way better than the micro-usb. It's reversible, and there are enough knock-offs (Amazon's is pretty darn good and cheap) to make this not an issue. If anything, the Apple connection is a plus in Apple's favor over the micro-usb

not having to use Itunes, Sigh. Yep. iTunes is brutal. No arguments there.

customization. Meh. Depends on how much you need that from your phone. If you can sacrifice customization for ease of use (which Apple wins in spades), then this isn't much of a give up.

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So, not all of your points are incorrect or bad, but I disagree with many.

Truly, the big downsides I see in switching from Android to iOS are:
- App Environment (More apps on iOS, but if you have invested any money at all in the other ecosystem, you have to start all over in the new one. This would be an issue no matter which way you were switching).
- iTunes (So bad. Bloated. Ugh)
- SD Cards/expandable memory (The price for more memory on the iPhone is ridiculous. Lots of stuff going to the cloud now (Flickr, Dropbox, etc), but there's something comforting about being able to store precious things (like family photos and videos) directly on the device and storage in your hands.

Everything else is simply personal preference and minor differences (like the difference between the door handle between Ford and Chevy, sure you have to learn something a little new when you switch, but you wouldn't make your purchase decision based on that factor at all).

What is so bad about iTunes? I guess I am not nerdy enough to have problems with it.

Also, IMO widgets always make android phones look so cluttered.

itunes is great on the mac. I have never had any problems with it

I don't have any issues with itunes.

My issue with iTunes is that I have to use it at all.

I would just like to be able to plug my device in (or via wifi) and transfer a file from my computer to my device. I don't want to have to go through a 10 minute "sync" process, and back-up and yadda yadda yadda. Plus, iTunes gets janky if you don't update it right away. If I don't want to spend 20 minutes doing an update to iTunes, it will often just stop connecting to my Apple TV or other devices until I do the stupid update.

For my Nexus 7, I just plug it in, and it shows up as a drive on my computer. I go to my movies folder on my N7, copy whatever I want to watch into that folder, and I'm good to go. That's easy and quick. The way it should be.

Even with good

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No. No one misses removable batteries

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I do - even with great battery life, if you're using your phone heavily you'll eventually run the battery down. I'd rather just have one in my pocket for long trips, at ball games, deer lease, etc. rather than mess with an external charger. And as all batteries will, when the battery is no longer as efficient it's just $10 or so for a new one.

Other things I like much better on Android are the ability to default apps (especially browser), native wireless charging, IR blaster, and just generally being able to customize the device.

These types of thread titles are like a ****ing bat signal for Barry to defend Apples honor.


What a loser.

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These types of thread titles are like a ****ing bat signal for Barry to defend Apples honor.


What a loser.

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Let's keep the personal attacks to a minimum and try to actually discuss the topic. Thanks.

The Windows version of iTunes (I've never used it on a Mac) is extremely bloated and likes to constantly run in the background, slowing down the computer.

I know if I were to switch from Android to iOS, I would miss:
- being able to see my data usage tracking live and what apps are using how much
- the battery tracker that works just like the data usage tracking
- Widgets (I like having my big clock that also has date, day of the week, and any calendar notifications)
- Screen real estate
- SD card
- for the love of God, being able to plug my device into a computer and drag and drop files (this is probably the most important factor for me)

Good thread. I'm up for an upgrade and am debating giving iphone a chance after a Motorola Atrix and Samsung S3. I'm on Verizon or I would use a Nexus 5 off contract.

I do like how the iphone doesn't come with bloatware. My S3 has so much stupid Verizon and Samsung stuff that I do not want.

I'm waiting to see what the Verizon new Moto X is like. Choices are between iphone6, HTC One, and new Moto X.

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Good thread. I'm up for an upgrade and am debating giving iphone a chance after a Motorola Atrix and Samsung S3. I'm on Verizon or I would use a Nexus 5 off contract.

I do like how the iphone doesn't come with bloatware. My S3 has so much stupid Verizon and Samsung stuff that I do not want.

I'm waiting to see what the Verizon new Moto X is like. Choices are between iphone6, HTC One, and new Moto X.

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Add the Nexus 5 to your list if you don't like bloatware.

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I know if I were to switch from Android to iOS, I would miss:
- being able to see my data usage tracking live and what apps are using how much
- the battery tracker that works just like the data usage tracking
- Widgets (I like having my big clock that also has date, day of the week, and any calendar notifications)
- Screen real estate
- SD card
- for the love of God, being able to plug my device into a computer and drag and drop files (this is probably the most important factor for
me)

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iOS8 has battery tracking by app now. iOS7 could already track data usage by app. I don't know if it has data tracking or not. Screen real estate is not an issue. Widgets are now in iOS8. SD Cards I guess could be a legit concern. When i transfer data off of my iphone, I plug it in and go to its folder with windows explorer so thats not really an issue. I think the problem with iTunes is that it forces people to be organized and replace windows explorer.

I really appreciate everyone's replies. I knew some would be pro-Apple biased and some would be pro-Android, but I'm comfortable sifting through that to get at what's essential to me.

Some answers speculated/depended on my current phone and usage. I will start with the post that got the discussion rolling and was quoted most

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You will miss Widgets, aftermarket keyboards, screen size, removable batteries and SD Cards, Non proprietary Micro USB charging, not having to use Itunes, customization.

I know some of those issues are finally fixed on the new phone, but I don't know if that will be the case on the legacy phones like the 5C.

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I will miss widgets. I have used those a lot and my "most used" functions (such as call wife, call mom, text sister, etc) are reduced down to one screen tap. Barry says this will be in iOS8, though? whew.

Aftermarket keyboards, I have tried several but reverted back to the native one, anyway.

I currently have a Galaxy S3, so I knew my screen would get smaller. I think i'll be okay with that.

Removable batteries make all the sense in the world to me. I have never carried around a spare, but always thought being able to buy a new one when the old one starts performing poorly was just a natural thing to want. But, I have never actually kept a phone that long, so probably a wash here. Plus, if I want to carry something, I bought an $8 2100maH external battery/charger at Staples that I can use on either phone (mine or wife's) as needed.

I have made do with a 8GB microSD in my S3, and bought a 32 GB iPhone, so I shouldn't be losing anything here. From a design perspective, I still don't understand why it's not available on iPhone, but same goes for Nexus 5 and Moto X.

Apple-proprietary chargers have long bugged me (since the wife needed one and I needed micro USB). But, since we'll both be on Apple, this will represent an improvement in my particular situation. question: will my charging port on a 5c use the same adapter as my wife's new iPhone, assuming Cricket has 6's available by then and she gets one?

I don't like iTunes, and hadn't thought about that. I have an MP3 player I use for most of my listening, but I occasionally use my phone for streaming music and a very few MP3s on the microSD. I assume Pandora, Spotify and Amazon Cloud Player all have iPhone versions of their apps? (For the few MP3s, can I play them on iPhone without iTunes? if so, how?)

Thanks again all!

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I assume Pandora, Spotify and Amazon Cloud Player all have iPhone versions of their apps? (For the few MP3s, can I play them on iPhone
without iTunes? if so, how?)

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Yes. They all have IOS versions of their apps. No problem there.

I don't think you can get them to your phone without itunes unless you use some sort of aftermarket software and SSH into your phone to manually drag and drop them there. BUT....I kind of like itunes for this anyway. You can manage your music from there and it can all be stored centrally and 'mapped' with itunes and put into your phone via sync. I personally LIKE being forced to sync and backup my phone somewhat regularly. This has saved my ass on more than one occasion. But thats neither here nor there.

Ive been trying to switch to android every time im up for renewal but just havnt found a legitimate reason or anything about it that is better than ios that would warant my switching. It WAS definitely screen size...but now, that's not even an issue.

I switched b/c my Galaxy was old and I could not update my OS. Had a cheap 4s available so I switched to try it out. Haven't been all that impressed with the 4S or felt was that much better
than my old Galaxy.

While iTunes is a terrible way to manage media, it is marginally better than Androids official
version which is nothing (double Twist is not official and runs very slow). Maybe there is something better?

I hate thekeyboard...it's my personal nemisis. I can't type for crap on it and I
miss SWYPE on Android.

I would like to slap the iOS developer that felt it was necessary to flash "location
accuracy can be improved with wi-fi" with EVERY FRIGGEN AP ON THE PHONE
and there is NO WAY TO TURN IT OFF! As in "don't show me this
again" check box!

There are other nagging items on the phone but I don't recall them specifically right now. Just know it's not going to be some "wow why didn't I switch sooner!" epiphany that will happen when you start using the phone. They both have pluses and minuses.

iTunes is a hateful b***h.

It is by far my least favorite part about iphone ownership. Five years ago it was clumsy but still could somewhat be used as an unglorified file manager to get stuff onto your iDevice. But the last two years it has become a disaster. It's basically like taking a 1994 Geo Metro worth $400 and then trying to bolt onto it $8000 worth of aftermarket customizations.

Getting stuff onto my devices should be as simple as an FTP client from 35 years ago. But too often, if you just want to import new stuff to your device you end up having to first complete several Mythic Quests in order to propitiate the gods of "Insanely Great<tm>" iLife design.

Quote:You will miss Widgets, Legitimate. I like the widgets on the Nexus 7

aftermarket keyboards, Meh. I switched a bunch around on my N7, Swype was decent but I just couldn't get used to it. Overall, unless your are REALLY picky about the look of your onscreen keyboard, this won't be any loss of note

If you get used to swype it is exponentially faster to type on than the IOS keyboard. I realize they are finally coming on IOS, but why the wait?

screen size, If he had gone with a 6 or 6+, thus wouldn't be an issue. But before that, he's going to have the smaller screen. Now, whether his current android phone is large screen or not will really determine if hes giving this up, or just staying consistent. Semi-legit depending on circumstance.

I don't like huge screens, but the iphone screen is just too small. 4.7" seems to be about perfect for someone with adult hands. I know this is being remedied with the 6.

removable batteries No. No one misses removable batteries. After switching around different phones and hardware, I have yet to "miss" carrying around an extra battery for extended life. My phone (iPhone 5) lasts about a day on charge (6:00AM - 10PM) with normal use. When I travel, there are charging stations everywhere and at work, I can always plug in if I need to (same with any phone, really). Unless you are working in a field all day with no where to plug in, removable battery should not be a "downside" factor in a switch.

My S4 battery last all day everyday, but for when I forget to charge it or I'm in a situation away from a charger, it's nice to have extra batteries. Switching out my original battery for one with 10% more capacity has really helped as well. There is nothing to dislike about removable batteries, it is a good thing.

and SD Cards, This is the biggie. Though my N7 doesn't have an SD slot, the Nokia does, and it's much easier to add storage that way, rather than pay twice as much to buy more storage on the phone. This is one that I wish Apple would get with the times on, and I also wish Android tablet makers would standardize on as well.

My biggest thing about SD cards and where Barry is incredibly wrong is that they store media like photos. Whenever your phone is bricked you can almost always recover your photos and videos from the SD card. I've lost many important photos from damaging a cell phone beyond recovery that didn't have an SD Card. It is cheap to increase storage on an SD equipped phone, and not even possible on an Iphone. Once again, there is nothing bad about having an SD card, it is a benefit. No, Icloud backup does not do the trick. I've got over 2000 photos on my phone alone, with 10,000+ on my computer at home. I'll eat through any free cloud storage in no time with the amount of photos I take. I'm sorry but cloud storage just isn't there for photo and video yet.

Non proprietary Micro USB charging, No. The lightning charger is way better than the micro-usb. It's reversible, and there are enough knock-offs (Amazon's is pretty darn good and cheap) to make this not an issue. If anything, the Apple connection is a plus in Apple's favor over the micro-usb

Not really, micro usb is the standard. Maybe the lightning connector is a better design, but it is proprietary and only specialized accessories will work with it. Accessories that cost more than their micro usb counterparts. I don't like proprietary electrical connections on anything.

not having to use Itunes, Sigh. Yep. iTunes is brutal. No arguments there.
Barry says you don't have to use Itunes, but if you want the full functionality of the IOS system, you do. Itunes is freaking terrible, there is no way around that.

customization. Meh. Depends on how much you need that from your phone. If you can sacrifice customization for ease of use (which Apple wins in spades), then this isn't much of a give up.
This really just depends on how technically inclined you are. If you have any decent computer skills you will enjoy the benefits of setting up android the way you like. If you don't then IOS will likely appeal to you.

I'm not saying the Iphone is terrible or android is great. They both suck in their own special ways and they are both great in their own special ways. There are many reasons I don't like IOS, but Android also has it's quirks that drive me nuts. As of right now the keyboard is the biggest deal breaker for me on IOS.

I really wish we could get a whole new OS that is superior to both, but that will be inhibited by app availability.

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I will miss widgets. I have used those a lot and my "most used" functions (such as call wife, call mom, text sister, etc) are reduced down to one screen tap. Barry says this will be in iOS8, though? whew.

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These are available in iOS8 but they are still more than one tap. Double-tap the home button to bring up the app switcher, tap the person you want (from your favorites) and then tap the communication method (phone, text, facetime) you want to use. It is better but you won't have it one tap accessible from your home screen.

The iTunes comments are so funny. I have been using it for 10+ years since I first got an Ipod and haven't had a problem. Haven't even upgraded it in a year or two.

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Barry says you don't have to use Itunes, but if you want the full functionality of the IOS system, you do. Itunes is freaking terrible, there is no way around that.

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what makes iTunes so "freaking terrible"?

There is many reasons it is terrible, but the biggest is not being able to download content from a device to a new computer after having your original computer stolen/lost/malfunction. You have to pay for third party software to do something that is as simple as dragging and dropping from one folder to another on an android phone.

i was able to transfer all of my itunes files from one mac to another when i bought a new macbook pro 2 years ago.

That's from computer to computer. Now lets say someone steals your computer and you still have all your music on your ipod. Unless they've changed in the last year, you are SOL if you want to transfer that music on your Ipod to a new computer, unless you buy a third party app. Even then it may not come out with the proper tags. It's Apple's way of blocking people from transferring whole ipods of music to their friends. It's craptastic DRM and it only hurts the legitimate users. This exact scenario has happened to me. Locking down their system and offering limited customization options is a major turnoff.

You don't backup your music?

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Let's keep the personal attacks to a minimum and try to actually discuss the topic. Thanks.

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Is this

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And the old android standby. "I can change my icons and put a giant redundant clock widget on my homescreen!!!"

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your idea of discussing the topic? Or do you not realize that one can do much more than changing icons and clock widgets?

You know this is why some people make fun of you, right?

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what makes iTunes so "freaking terrible"?

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It's already been pointed out by several people, some of them Apple owners. It's a bloated, convoluted mess that, like everything else in the Apple universe, forces you to do things the way Apple wants to instead of giving you the room to do it the way you want. If you're fine with that, cool, more power to you. I don't need help " managing my media ".

I was given an iPod several years ago. It's gathering dust in a junk drawer. ITunes was a piece of crap then, and from the look of things out hasn't gotten any better.

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While iTunes is a terrible way to manage media, it is marginally better than Androids official
version which is nothing

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One man's bug is another man's feature ;-)

The worst part about iTunes is the updates...just when you've gotten the convoluted mess of how to control things figured out, they move everything around to make it easier. It's like the people in charge of iTunes are disciples of MS Office programmers who like to move crap around to where anyone with half an ounce of common sense would never look for it!

The phone interface on the iPhone is much worse. The recent call list only allows you to call vs Android where swipe left txt, swipe right call. The phone dial-er forces you to type an entire number before the contact is displayed (in micro text) vs Android which will pull up the most relevant matches as you dial more numbers...where you can txt or call that person.

I do like on the iPhone the podcast ap. which seems much easier to find what I want (mostly b/c there are just more i-device podcasts that don't do both systems).

Play with it for 2-weeks and try to do everything you could possibly want to do on your phone. If you don't like it, send it back.

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It's already been pointed out by several people, some of them Apple owners. It's a bloated, convoluted mess that, like everything else in the Apple universe, forces you to do things the way Apple wants to instead of giving you the room to do it the way you want.

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Dropping and dropping music from your computer to phone via itunes is so difficult.

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You don't backup your music?

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I've got way more music than will ever fit on an iphone or ipod.

Having to resync every single song or artist that you want on your device manually is the bad part.

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Dropping and dropping music from your computer to phone via itunes is so difficult.

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The problem is from the phone to the computer mainly, but not being able to save which songs you want to sync and which ones you don't is also a problem.

If you could just keep all your sync songs in one folder then drag and drop it like you can on android, problem solved. With Itunes, those would be the only songs in your computer library if you wanted them to automatically sync.

Apple could solve this easily by allowing you to drag and drop music/video folders using windows explorer just like you can photos.

so what I'm getting out of this is that I will use my phone for streaming music, and my MP3 player for playing stored music.

I really appreciate this conversation.

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The phone interface on the iPhone is much worse. The recent call list only allows you to call vs Android where swipe left txt, swipe right
call. The phone dial-er forces you to type an entire number before the
contact is displayed (in micro text) vs Android which will pull up the
most relevant matches as you dial more numbers...where you can txt or
call that person.

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I have a message app that I use for text messages. Why would I go to the recent calls to do a text? If I just HAD to do that, I can tap the "I" and then tap the 'send message' button. Not a big deal.

The dialer is set up that way because the phone assumes that if you are typing in the damn number, then its probably not someone you know the name for. I don't type numbers in if they are in my contacts....that's kind of the whole point of having it as a contact, so I don't have to remember their number.

These aren't deficiencies, these are just differences in procedure that we stubborn humans don't want to screw with.

Honestly, I know we arent talking about iphone 6, but with its bigger screen options, I cannot see any reason to go from iPhone to Android....or Android to iPhone for that matter.