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Former Android user’s initial iPhone 4S impressions

by JimRaffel on October 17, 2011

image of iphone 4s and htc evo 4g

About 30 hours ago, UPS delivered an iPhone 4S to my door. It’s my very first iPhone and it replaced one of the hottest Android devices: the htc EVO 4G. I’ve already chronicled my history with smart phones in How I use my htc EVO for social media, so this post will focus on my impressions of moving from an Android to an iPhone 4S.

First impressions

1. I’m going to miss the big bright screen on the htc EVO 4G. I’m a little older and I appreciated the bigger text.

2. I’m not going to miss the lack of battery life that, while I found workarounds, was a constant source of frustration with the EVO.

Right out of the gate I was finding things I liked and disliked about the iPhone. I decided to stay as objective as possible and forget that the 4S was a shiny new toy. I understand that the EVO and 4S have basically the same screen resolution but at the same font size the type will be bigger on the EVO since it accomplishes that resolution with more physical real estate. I’ve had to set the font size bigger on the iPhone, which means I see less on each screen.

On the battery front, however, I couldn’t be happier. I used the iPhone 4S almost nonstop for eight hours and still had 18 percent battery remaining. With that kind of hard usage, I suspect the EVO would have lasted five or six hours and been almost dead.

The iPhone is a mature platform

Apple has more experience with smart phones than any single company at this point and it shows. I played around with some of the first generation iPhones and I can tell you Apple has come a long, long way. Much of what happened between the iPhone 4 and 4S was in my opinion incremental upgrades. The battery friendly hardware is faster and more refined and it’s combined with a faster, more refined (voice activated) battery-friendly operating system. While I will miss the EVOs bigger screen, I won’t miss its larger form factor. The iPhone 4S fits in my hand really well.

It’s the supporting ecosystem

On the evening of the 4S release, I had a brief conversation with my friend Brennan Stehling about the success of the iPhone based upon the supporting ecosystem. He was talking about iTunes and the App Store as well as Apple’s retail stores and the Genius Bar. When you buy an iPhone, you buy easy and integrated. When you buy an Android, you buy a fairly open platform that is very flexible as long as you are willing to figure out a lot of the tips, tricks and techniques on your own.

I’m not saying one way is better than the other. It’s just different. The iPhone also has a much better out-of-box experience. I’m a day into this and pretty much have it set up the way I want. It took me about two weeks to really figure out the Android platform. Now the price will be that at some point I’ll reach a wall that Apple’s tight control of the iPhone platform will not allow me to go around. I realize and accept that.

It’s the apps stupid

In politics there is a saying, “It’s the economy stupid.” With smart phones, the same can be said about the apps. Over the last day, I’ve been using the same apps on the iPhone platform that I used on the Android platform. With one exception, the iPhone apps are hands down better, tighter and more stable. The exception is the WordPress app which has very poor WordPress stats access on the iPhone compared to the Android.

Email is at least as good and now integrates with Google apps email quite well. Twitter for iPhone blows the same app on the Android away. Tweetdeck has crashed once today. On the Android, that was a several times a day occurrence. Facebook is easier to use. TripIt looks prettier. Best of all, I can play my favorite word game Moxie, which wasn’t even available on the Android. Kindle has about the same functionality and, with the font size set right, is very comfortable for reading.

It’s not really better; it’s different

I didn’t set out to settle the Android vs. iPhone debate. Instead, I wanted to describe the differences as I’ve seen them over the last 24 hours. Both are great platforms; they are just geared toward different types of users. I’m going to enjoy less hassle and access to the Genius Bar when I have troubles. That’s not necessarily for everyone because I give up a fairly open platform for one that is pretty restrictive. However, at this moment in time it’s a price I’m willing to pay. I’ll keep you posted.

Tagged as: 4s, android, androids, app store, apple inc., evo, htc, iphone, itunes, smart phones, smartphones

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  • http://twitter.com/JonTiegs Jon Tiegs

    Jim,

    You feedback reflects my thoughts exactly as I moved from iOS to Android in the spring.  With Android you get more flexibility to make the phone do what you want but pay for it with stability and battery life.  I expect that Android will get better as it evolves but from a user experience perspective I don’t think it will ever equal iOS.  Look forward hearing more about your experiences.

    Jon

  • http://rasterweb.net/raster/ Pete Prodoehl

    Wow, I’m surprised to see you switch! But it’s good, as I expect more blog posts on the subject as time passes. :)

    One question on screen size, if you saw this post: http://dcurt.is/2011/10/03/3-point-5-inches/ did you agree or disagree with it? I was at the AT&T store and tried a few of the larger screen Android phones, and I totally got the whole “can’t reach the whole screen” thing right away.

  • http://JimRaffel.com/ Jim Raffel

    Had not seen the article, but yes it’s true. I don’t have the biggest hands in the world and had to use two hands or shift the EVO in my hand to reach everything.

  • http://www.emrdailynews.com Steve Campbell

    Jim – I went the other way – after buying the first three iPhones (and loving them) I switched to an Android phone.  Why?  I was tired of the paying so much much to AT&T for what was really sub-par service.

    I agree that it’s all about the apps but for me the majority of the apps I ran on the iPhone were available on the Android platform.

    I briefly thought about switching back when this new phone came out but I’m really happy with the google apps/android integration and would miss it if I switched back.

    I’m anxious to hear your thoughts comparing the two after you’ve had your phone for awhile.

  • http://JimRaffel.com/ Jim Raffel

    Jon,

    I’m not a big fan of “ever” I think Apple may be in for a rough ride here without Mr. Jobs. I hope I’m wrong but in many ways he was the heart and soul of that company. He kept the rate of inovation at a very high level from the moment he returned.

    At the moment it’s clearly a very solid reliable mobile device platform with a strong supporting ecosystem. The ecosystem is so good that when I plugged into iTunes it found and reloaded all the apps I’d had on my iPod touch. That was kinda of nice since a could of those were not cheap.

    As for the battery. I unplugged about about 5:30am this morning. So at 11.5 hours of pretty heavy use I still have 24% batter. That would have never happened with the EVO. never.

  • http://JimRaffel.com/ Jim Raffel

    Steve,

    I’m on the Sprint network and my monthly cost actually went down. Because I have AppleCare ($99/ 2 years) I no longer need the $8/month insurance on my Android. Other than that the plan costs exactly the same as the Android. 

    As for the Apps, yes they are the same ones but they seem more stable on the iPhone. To be fair that a function of a single hardware platform for the OS to support. Android is one OS on many, many hardware platforms and that makes for some stability issues on certain hardware I guess.

  • Tiegsj

    I have the Thunderbolt, EVO’s Verizon brother, and have to use the extended life battery which adds a couple pounds but at least I can work for a while without charging.

  • http://JimRaffel.com/ Jim Raffel

    Yes, I never wanted to mess with the form factor of the phone so I was limited to the 1750ma battery that fit in the original space. It did help quite a bit with battery life.

  • Eastside

    I’m coming from my much loved nexus s 4g to a 4s. My buyer’s remorse is still here on my third day with the new phone but not as much as the beginning. It took me a couple of weeks to get used to switching from pc to Mac but I’ll never go back on that one.

    I knew before taking the plunge that there were less free apps in the app store but I’m really spending a lot of money on crap with the 4s. There seems to not be a few minute trial period before refund on paid apps like the market.

    Typing on websites can be very frustrating without arrow keys for cursor movement among the text. Yes I know about the mag glass but for me, that can be very temperamental at times. I know it’s just a matter of giving things some time to adjust and learn the apple way of doing things. I miss many things from the old phone that can’t be done or easily figured out with the new one. I check multiple times everyday for an a5 jailbreak but I’ve been reading it could take months before its released. That’s a major setback when compared anywhere from hours to a couple of weeks to unweld the hood of an android machine and start mucking around inside. I don’t know what is in store for what can and can’t be done with an untethered jailbreak, when it finally comes. Hurry up and wait.

  • http://JimRaffel.com/ Jim Raffel

    Two things. I miss the cursor arrow keys as well. But after a week I am getting used to the bubble for moving the cursor around. Second, I will never jailbreak this 4S. Part of my move was based upon the stability and maturity of the platform.

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