We’ve asked this before, but I want to ask it again.
Mainly because I’ve lost my phone and I want advice! What kind of phone are you currently rolling with: Android or Apple?
I was strictly an Apple dude, then I made the switch to Android with a Nexus tablet. That sold me on getting an Android phone.
Now I think I’ve lost my phone? Either that or my son has flushed it down the toilet, so I’m in the process of thinking about new phones. What model do you all recommend, and should I stick with Android or go back to Apple with my tail between my legs?
Comments
98 responses to “The Big Question: Android Or Apple?”
Symbian.
Oooh, Sybian!
Definitely not that one 😛
Not what I want to see a Serrels review about thats for sure!
when ever i see Symbian, the first thing that enters my head is
“CAPTAIN SIMIAAAAANNN, AAANND THE SPAAAAAACCEE MONKEEEEYYS!”
I have a phone
Droid, only because I dislike most Apple products
Banana because I prefer banana shakes.
Fun fact: I rename most of my phones to ‘Banana Phone’.
Ring ring ring ring ring ring ring banana phone!
I have an iPhone…it’s the first and only apple product that I’ve ever bought and when it dies I won’t be getting another apple phone.
Go android…iPhone is more trouble than it’s worth. Hell as the (previous?) owner of one you should know that much already.
Windows
There’s always 1 ! Why not throw Blackberry in there for some more lols while you’re at it 😉
Brofist for the most criminally underrated choice. I ditched Android for a Lumia 930 and I’ll never go back. I can live without 20 million apps. I’ll take a stable, intuitive, good looking OS with strong battery life and seamless integration with my 4 other windows devices.
I’ll stay on WinPhone until Microsoft stops making it.
HTC 10 looks great.
I am so excited about HTC 10. It’d be a great upgrade for me and my wife.
Looks like it will also be the basis for the Nexuses (Nexii?) this year. Will be looking at picking one of those up.
As someone who was a big HTC fan I got sick of waiting and grabbed the LG G4 instead. Glad I did because the HTC 10 looks really underwhelming
Oh dear. This might turn into a bloodbath.
I’ll just say Android, and leave it at that. One of the Nexus phones would be your best bet.
My Nexus 5 is still powering on after 2 or so years. Much prefer android over apple.
currently on an iPhone 6, will take something monumental to get me back on an android phone. My first ‘smart’ phone was a windows mobile 5 HTC, then onto an iPhone 3GS, after that was a htc android phone, then back to an iPhone 5, which I sold to get a Samsung Galaxy S5 which basically told me never to have another android phone, was great for a couple of weeks than the slow response, constant crashing and unreliability of the apps I wanted to use got to me, got rid of it for the iPhone 6.
I know people have great experiences with android phones but the two I have had have left me disappointed.
I have a Samsung S5, never experienced any of those problems. Admittedly I don’t run a lot of apps.
Had an s5 for two years still kicking on strong
Yeap I agree with you on the S5. The amount of problems I had with it is what caused me to go back to apple. Haven’t had an issue since.
String which powers my latest Golden Circle pineapple can 440g.
I prefer the peach cans myself, tend to be able to get the stink out of them easier. also you should try switching the string out for a length of fiber optic cable, except the very last bit just use string for that and it will work better. If our all mighty masters have taught me anything its that this will suffice just fine as no one really needs to have fiber the whole way. Plus its cheaper (more costly in the end), will roll out quicker (will take longer) and will be cutting edge for years to come (out of date already).
I think I have read to much budget info and have been corrupted by our masters and lord saviours into speaking politician talk.
Get with the times dude. MY peach can is of the new variety, where some of the peach residue is left in to attract flies, which then pick up the vibrations when you speak into the can, and fly off to transmit them to another can. We call it Wi-Fly. Still working out the kinks though. You tend to get a lot of “crossed lines” when you have too many peach cans in one area.
Pfah, your phones are old and crap. I’m using the mega drum-smoke system 2000. It works by sound and smoke. Completely wireless.
I lolled at wi-fly just a little to hard. nice one.
You know it is just a pineapple can with a new label right?
Internals are slightly different but they are all the same look and feel.
but it comes with a slightly slimmer pieces of fruit so it must be better than the other one, that and I saw one of the Kardashians using it on instagram so it must be good !!!
Was that the Kardashican model i really want to upgrade to that model myself but not sure the extra bling is what i need in my can right now.
still faster then then the nbn
and let’s not forget more fragrant
yeah, nothing says technological breakthrough more than the scent of rotting fruit
Isn’t that just Apple anyway?
Apple had it’s moment in the sun, android is leading the market for a reason. I’m using an samsung s5 and it’s never skipped a beat.
Android “leads the market” because Apple doesn’t sell <$99 handsets. 😉
Indeed, that’s one of the many issues that makes Apple lose market shares by the second. Less and less people are falling for their old “We’re going to charge you 2-3X for a product that the competition demonstrates actually costs X. But hey, you get the grey little apple logo on it that makes you feel like a superior offshoot clade of the human race!”
Apple is quickly losing its “hip” artificially aggregated value and since it was, like, the one thing it had over the competition that kept people going back for more, well…
That’s not the point. Apple only competes with other “premium” handsets, Galaxy S7, HTC One, etc. The aggregate figure for Android handsets includes markets in which Apple has no offering. It’s a meaningless comparison.
So you are saying apple support only people with deep pockets……..seems logical 😛
WINDOWS! No, really. I’m on my second windows phone and haven’t really had many issues at all. My samsung was filled with bloatware and wasn’t anything special for the price
I also genuinely recommend trying a Windows phone to see how you like it. I’m only on my first but I, my Wife and my Boss all have them and they are quite excellent, especially with the combination of windows 8/10 PCs and Tablets. The only real downside is the app store. Windows still lags behind greatly.
That said, I still consider the best phone I ever got to have been the HTC I had before this one so I always recommend android over apple though I caution that it always comes down to personal taste so try it and see which you like better.
I find most people seem to prefer the windows phones when they try it. The apps is the only real let down, but it doesn’t bother me that much
I’m locked into another 18 months of iPhone, but I’m genuinely interested to see if UWP can boost the viability of using Windows Phone and their apps. Hopefully by the time my contract’s up I’ll be in a good position to make a decision.
One more who loves their Windows Phone, here.
Rumour has it that the Lumia line is being dropped this year and there will be a new flagship phone with the Surface branding and design style coming in April. If it ends up being good, you can probably pick one of those up cheap 5 months after release.
My Windows phone was super fast and slick, but I could do almost nothing that I wanted to do on it. Android has much better customization and better features IMO
Android is the correct choice.
I would say go Android, but be careful which manufacturer you go for.
My experience with Samsung was atrocious. HTC was marginally better. My current Sony Xperia has been a blast.
I’ve never had any issues with Samsung (have mostly owned Samsung phones since whenever the iPhone 3GS was still a big deal) but I have found HTC to generally be of higher quality. They tend to just feel more solid and professional (for lack of a better term) than many Samsung’s over the years.
That said, Samsung is getting a lot better with quality lately and HTC never seem to have what I personally want at the right price/right time now days – which atm is essentially the Samsung Note and its complete lack of competition.
That’s fair enough. In all honesty, the Samsung I used was one their first forays into smart phones, so understandably was riddled with shortfalls.
Seconding the Xperia rec. Got a Z3 Compact which for a 2 year old phone still has one of the best battery life on the market today. Unfortunately they’re not making them anymore, though the Z4 are probably still comparable.
Had a Nexus 5 until I dropped it… was great. Now using a Sony Xperia Z3 and it’s great too.
Love me some Android.
z5 is even better
Android because they are PC friendly.
HEY EVERYONE, THIS GUY HERE, HE GETS IT!
Grab a Samsung for Gear VR.
I just switched from my 3 year old Nokia Lumia 920 (WP 8.1), to the Microsoft Lumia 950XL (WP 10) a day ago. The 920 has lasted through being dropped on concrete paths and roads over the 3 years, eventually putting dents and small cracks in the corners of the case, but the screen remained mint and everything still works. The only app not available, that bothers me in the slightest is snapchat. Other than that, I could do without the rest.
If I had to choose between Android, or Apple, though, I would go Android. It’s got the official apps and then it has a rich tapestry of alternatives, if price, or a different taste in functionality is your thing.
I’m trying to bring back the Brick, rocking the classic Nokia 3310 i found at a flea market. the only downside is that i’m sharing a changeable universal laptop charger with my laptop to power it as it never came with charger 😛
Found my old 3310 the other day, noticed the case seemed to be stuck on and am now worried the battery has already started leaking or something :/
Only thing that can kill those things seems to be time – once threw a friends at a brick wall multiple times and it didn’t seem to make a dent. Eventually after taking the cover off and throwing it over and over, we destroyed the screen, still seemed to work apart from that though – the friend was done with it obviously, I didn’t just steal their phone and try break it….
Definitely Android, although the OS is very similar these days there is a better range of handsets to choose from. Also I highly recommend the Aviate Launcher. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tul.aviate&hl=en
Had an iPod touch once, which was enough to make me convinced of my preference for Android. Had a Nexus 5 for a couple of years – no bloatware, no performance problems, no broken screen after dropping it (read: tossing it onto my bed only for it to bounce off and onto the hardwood floor) several times. The worst damage it’s seen is the coating on the back of the case is starting to deteriorate – only difference from when I bought it is a few smudged fingerprints and a bit of dust… tho I have had to dig lint out of the charging port a couple of times.
HERETICS. UNBELIEVERS. ALL MUST BOW TO THE CULT OF APPLE.
(Edit: Srsly though, if you care about using your phone to game, get an iphone. Ignore the nerds, devs know where mobile primacy is at. Boom!)
But why do that when you could play real games instead? 😛
I think I’d actually need to own my own home to implement the kind of bathroom renovations that would make real gaming a viable proposition in ALL situations. No way is a landlord approving the kind of plumbing changes I’d need to make otherwise.
Wii U + offscreen play.
For all those times when you don’t feel like playing 3DS.
WiiU? I thought you said ‘real games’.
Real live actual video games!
So true.
There is so little difference in the market these days. Choose a comfortable sized phone in a price range you like and own your decision. I have a Nexus 6P and I love it but I don’t judge those who prefer apple
As someone that’s owned phones from the big three camps over the last 8ish years:
There’s nothing of any real significance that Android does that iOS or WinPhone don’t do. If you just use your phone to get work done, they’re much of a muchness now, get the phone you like the outward appearance of, or that has the most attractive plan from your telco.
OTOH, if you’re the kind of person for whom the tweaking, modding, hacking of the device is the main attraction, then of course Android is where you’ll end up. If you absolutely must carry the entire 8-bit console library+emulators with you at all times, then you’re the edge case to which the competitors do not cater.
Android all the way. HTC to be exact. I’ve had my M8 for 3 years, dropped it countless times on concrete with no case and the screen has never cracked. Best phone I’ve ever owned. I’m thinking of getting the new M10 which came out yesterday. Well worth a suss if you’re looking for a new phone, Mark.
They’re like the Samsung Galaxy, but a little better 😉
Windows phones are actually quite good but I switched early on to android because of apps and so forth. As an operating system though, it was good.
Happy with android. While I have never owned an iphone, I must say that when ever I use one I find it unintuitive. Is there no set back button?
I don’t like Apple’s corporate mentallity, the biggest Hardware/Software fascists in Tech history and people think they are the kind and caring ones. Yeah yeah, companies exist to make money but nobody else seems as anti-consumer as Apple to me.
What Apple release as a hardware update, Android patches it in with software.
I was very happy with my $100 Huawei, it did the things it needed to although it was a bit slow. The biggest thing that did it in was the lack of internal memory and the ongoing bloat of apps. Because despite sticking a SD card into the side of it, that is only good for photos and songs, as all apps want to install on your internal memory not your removable memory. When it had more and more issues and battery problems (2.5 years is good for $100 phone) I switched to a S5 on Contract. I love the thing, It does everything I’ve needed it to and going Samsung meant I could find a Case and Screen protector for it easily.
In the end it’s a personal preference, if you prefer iPhone go back to it, if you want to stay on Android have at it. But make sure you buy something popular enough to be able to find the cases everywhere, and have them put the screen protector on in store for you.
My (probably false) impression is Apple for gaming due to much more constant updates
everything else Android all the way (phone / tablet for day to day usage)
Android, because fuck paying $25 for a proprietary charging cable when I have dozens of micro USB cables all over the shot, for phones, headphones, mice and so on.
Having never used an apple iOS product I don’t feel I can make an informed judgement. I just didn’t like the restrictions that Apple build into the OS which keeps me from even considering an Apple product all the way from an iPod all the way up through whatever their latest and greatest desktop.
Android is a standard, with devices sold by numerous manufacturers, some good, some bad, some cheap, some expensive, but all with the same essential compatibility. It’s a free market.
iPhones are a single product range from a single company that acts somewhat like a fascist state – you’re fine and oblivious if what you want aligns with what Apple wants, but if that ever changes you find that they’re trying to dictate what you should and shouldn’t like, if you have a problem they tell you that you’re the cause (eg. antennagate) and if you try to leave you find they’ve made it difficult because their deliberate incompatibility with everything else pushes you into a sunk cost fallacy.
In short, if you’re a happy and loyal member of the Apple proletariat they’re a solid choice; if your wants and needs don’t align with theirs then their inflexibility and dictatorial style becomes an ever-increasing thorn in your side. With Android, it’s a free market with all the good and terrible that entails. If you don’t mind researching your purchases then it’s not difficult to avoid the duds, and worst case at least you’re still free to move to another
countrymanufacturer if you don’t like your current one.There’s very little difference between the two these days.
So just go out have a play with a couple of different ones and see what suits you best when it comes to size / price / specs.
Personally I have gone back to apple after over 5 years with android and I don’t regret it.
I had constant issues with every android device had. The best was the Nexus 5 but the battery life was woeful. The major issues I had with my S5 is what finally made me go back to apple. Admittedly a lot of these issues might be related to the software I need to put on there for work. So other peoples experience may be different. But after years of constant problems I went back to apple with a 6s and I have loved it. Had none of the problems I had with android phones. Having said that it’s not without it’s quirks and frustrations but overall I am much happier.
I have had both iOS and Android and I keep coming back to Apple. Not that I dislike Android I just feel Apple have done it better.
That, and iOS stuff tends to work well straight out of the box, whereas I’ve heard that the default droid stuff is apparently low-quality because it’s meant to be immediately replaced by savvy users?
My younger brother switched to Android recently and was tugging on his long-time-android-using partner’s sleeve every ten minutes with a complaint.
“Why the hell isn’t this link working?”
“Oh, you need to download a youtube app.”
“Ugh. Fine, I’ll just… Wait, what the fuck is going on here with typing?”
“Oh, you haven’t downloaded a keyboard app, yet… yeah, you’ll wanna do that. Swiftkey is good.”
“A keyboard ap– WHY DOESN’T IT JUST COME WITH A GOOD KEYBOARD TO START WITH? This stuff should be standard!”
That’s what I like about my Nokia 😛
Does everything already.
Official Android distributions come with both Youtube and a keyboard as standard. The only releases I’ve seen without Youtube are custom roms that aren’t allowed to distribute the main Google app package directly (eg. Cyanogen). Pretty sure the base keyboard can’t be removed at all from Android, it wouldn’t make sense since you need it to be able to type in names in the Play Store to get other keyboards.
Interesting. I don’t know from distros, but what I do know he got a Samsung S6(I think?) from his carrier. Vodafone? And there were things he was puzzled weren’t simply ‘there’ out of the box.
I don’t remember what his complaint about the keyboard was. That it wasn’t doing iphone typing basics, like predictive text or something? Whatever it was, it was something less than the iphone does by default, and ‘installing a keyboard app’ was the recommended option.
Yeah, sorry to make you proxy in this conversation =) I couldn’t really comment without knowing specifics, strange that Youtube wasn’t installed on a model from Vodafone though. The default keyboard isn’t ground-breaking or anything, but one thing I do like about Android (that iOS only added about 18 months ago) is the ability to install custom keyboards.
(Personal addendum: There are some really awesome custom keyboards out there. I use KeyMonk personally, which is a multitouch swipe keyboard where you can swipe words with both thumbs simultaneously. It sounds weird and a little awkward at first but it’s surprisingly easy to get used to, and super fast when you are.)
To be fair, that’s what I get when I quote hearsay.
Now. Back to rabid parochialism! RAR RAR APPLE 4 EVA RAR RAR!
My big thing is the people that think Samsung = Android. It doesn’t. It’s got great marketing, but I can’t stand Samsung’s take on Android phones. The amount of bloatware that you can’t uninstall. I feel half the time, the only reason they ramp the specs/power of samsung phones is to power their crappy applications.
I’ve got the Nexus 4 (LG) at the moment. When this dies, I’ll likely go Motorola or HTC. (LG is also ok! I have no problem with them at all. But Samsungs? All S I’ve used? meh)
I feel the same way. If you can hold out till the end of the year, you will most likely have a Nexus or two by HTC available. I’m awaiting those.
Windows phone. It just seems you can get a good windows phone for low price and I buy phones outright and treat them terribly so a solid cheap phone suits me.
I do have an android tablet and I’ve never owned an apple thing so by default I’d choose android over apple.
I switched to an iPhone 6 as I got one with my job, and I must admit it’s a great phone. The best thing about it for me over the Android phones I’ve had (Galaxy S2 & S4) is the battery life. Both Galaxy phones would struggle to get me through a day, but the iPhone can easily do me a full day, sometimes two if I keep my Hearthstone addiction in check!
One thing I would consider if you’re torn between the two is Facetime/iMessage. So many people I know and all my family in the UK use iPhone’s so it’s super handy to have free messages and video calling built into the OS.
Android also has this, and it’s cross platform so you can talk to people on idevices too. And PC’s. And Macs. Sorry Windows phone.
It really depends on what eco system you have invested into…
If you have a macbook, use itunes and apple tv – then go to Apple. If you dont run anything else Apple, then go with Droid. Much better integration with just about every other device out there that doesnt have an “i” in front of it.
My wife wanted to change to Apple a couple of years back and i asked her why? She had no idea. She had heard they were easy to use. Had heard they were good to act simple for the less technologically gifted… But then her nanna asked her how to do something on her iPad and neither of us could navigate the damn thing successfully!
I looked at her and said so you want an iPhone? She said no ill stick with my samsung!
Windows Phone! I’ve been using Windows phones since the OS was called “Pocket PC”.
Easier to copy pirated Game of Thrones episodes on to an Android device.. right? Haha..
But seriously, yeh.. I prefer Android due to the open environment, but love the stability of the iOS devices. I tend to get iOS tablets, but Android phones.
Android just doesn’t care enough about making sure you don’t have to care.
@markserrels I just purchased a new phone because my old one kicked the bucket. Coming from a Galaxy S4, I looked at both the iPhone and Android offerings and ended up picking the Huawei Nexus 6P, and I love it. It’s cheaper on a plan too than the other handsets. Check it out.
Nexus 4. Love the lack of bloatware that you get with a clean android phone. When this dies, I’ll be getting the Nexus 5.
Honestly these days I think it comes down to the physical size and quality of the phone along with the amount of money you’re willing to spend. If you want something small and inexpensive, you can get a brand new cheap Android phone, or a second hand Apple phone. If you’re looking for a flagship phablet, go find the one that fits best in your hand with a great screen and camera. Both Apple and Android offer these things. The user interaction and experience is largely the same these days and this old argument is null and void.