Sunday, September 23, 2012

Starting A Religious War

Crazed Apple fanboys enraged at criticism of the iPhone.
I played with a new Apple iPhone 5 yesterday and I didn't like it.

There. I said it. I've made sure my insurance is paid up and I've got the Catican Guards on high alert in preparation for the iMullahs rousing of the iMob.

A friend of ours works at an Apple Store and got hers as soon as they shipped. She brought it over last night and I had a chance to compare it to my new Galaxy S3. There isn't any comparison at all as far as I'm concerned.

First off, the iPhone has an industrial feel to it. It's not a friendly thing to hold in your hand. It's thick, heavy and metallic. The edges make you feel like it just came out of a machine shop. The S3 is sleek, light and soft to the touch.

I didn't know if the screen size would make a difference, but when you held them up side-by-side, it really did. Over the last week or so, I've gotten used to the S3's monster screen and looking at the iPhone, I couldn't imagine going back to something so ... small. A coworker once characterized customers with small computer monitors as "looking at the world through a tank slit" and that's the very first thing I thought when the two were turned on next to each other. The difference doesn't seem like much when it's written down, but in person, it was a big deal to me.

The new navigation on the iPhone is supposed to wow you, but when you finally get to the details, it's nothing more and probably something less than the Google Maps app Android users have had for a long time. The three dimensional view sounds like a cute idea, but I don't know how it helps me find where I'm going. When I need to glance at the map while in urban traffic, I don't think I want a smaller screen cluttered with cute models of the buildings. I just want to see the upcoming turns.

All in all, I'd say the Android phones have surpassed Apple's iPhone line. Riot all you want, but for the first time, I saw a friend with a brand-new, top-of-the-line iPhone and wanted to console them.

Bunker doors closing in 3..2..1..

1 comment:

Mostly Nothing said...

Yeah, I read the announcement of the iPhone 5, and was pretty underwhelmed. It's really nothing new. Retina display is about it. Big deal, don't care.

Friday night I was playing with tablets at Best Buy. I'm pretty sure I want one, I'm trying to decide if the 7 in would be ok. I think it would fine for what I want to do with it. My big thing continues to be VPN access. The iPad will do it definitely. It looks like maybe there is a app now that will configure the Android to probably do it.

Other than that, the IOS is clumsy and old feeling. I'm not sure I like all the stuff in Android 4.x but it seems more advanced, more intuitive.

My HTC Thuderbolt is still good after nearly a year and a half. The power button on top is having issues, but other than that I don't have any complaints. BTW, I now use NQ Android Booster, better at battery management than Juice Defender.

I'm thinking I could go with a smaller screen, just because the phone is so big in my pocket and I don't like belt holsters.

Google Maps is really great. I've been using Waze lately thought, it does real time traffic management via social networking. The more people using it the better it can tell you about traffic.

My son has the iPhone 4S, he likes it. It's good for him.