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I recently bought a Nexus S and brought it into a hostile environment (http://www.madebysofa.com http://www.madebysofa.com). I used it for a while now and am bu

by koenbok 16y ago

I recently bought a Nexus S and brought it into a hostile environment (http://www.madebysofa.com http://www.madebysofa.com). I used it for a while now and am building an ongoing review: https://gist.github.com/892043 https://gist.github.com/892043 PLUS - You never have to attach it to the computer, not even for software upgrades - Call quality and reception is sometimes better then my iPhone - The dashboard or home is really nice with widgets and shortcuts (like wifi settings) - Regular mini USB cable, although iPod cables are pretty common now too - I don't really feel like I miss any apps, and most standard apps are done very nicely - Some stuff is really smart like having a 2 second delay for locking after the screen dims down - Most of the time it feels pretty fast - I feel like I have more insight in the device (which is good because I'm geeky) - I like how I can for each app see what they are allowed to do and disable stuff (like background syncing) in the app manager. Although I never do anything with it. - The Firefox browser is actually really nice MINUS - It feels like an actual computer doing background stuff sometimes - Battery life is a lot worse (~50%), especially with syncing turned on - It charges reaaally slow, or maybe as fast as an iPhone over normal USB - The browser gets really slow with large pages - There is no easy way to see what Android version you are exactly running and see a changelog - If you're somewhere with speakers, the is a bigger chance on a iPod connector then a jack-jack - For running, the earphone jack on the bottom is not handy with an armband - Wifi reception seems actually worse then my iPhone - Couldn't find a snooze function on the default alarm - Taking a call while running (with music) was ridiculous, i ended up having to reboot the phone - It seems the browser has a lot of problems when switching networking (wifi to 3g etc.) - Phone itself feels a lot cheaper then an iPhone, but still decent - The camera is extremely shit and audio with movies is a joke - Overall it feels way less polished (unexpected delays, stuttery animations, weird redraws) - I feel like I have no control over which app is running until I go into some task manager. I think they only keep running when it makes sense (navigation, mp3) - Wifi receptions is worse then an iPhone, and most apps (like the browser) are really bad at dealing with bad network connections. - When the phone gets stuck (mostly in maps or the browser with lots of js) the only way to reboot it is to peel out the battery. Eek! - Flimsy USB cable/connector are really frustrating when you need to make a call while charging - A actually have to travel with a phone charger on me again - It feels like app updates are available sooner/more often on iOS SUBJECTIVE - I like the look of the icons and most Android base screens - I hate the Android font, a sort of thin Verdana

IDisposableHero 16y ago
There is no easy way to see what Android version you are exactly running Is Menu|settings|About phone not enough for you?
ydant 16y ago
It's nice to see a detailed comparison from an iPhone user that doesn't hate on Android just because it's not iPhone. I went from iPhone to Android after 6 months of owning an iPhone 3GS (I went to the original Motorola Droid). For me, it was a big relief, even though it was in many ways a step backward. The entire time I owned the iPhone I felt like I was doing something the benevolent overlord didn't want me to do - I jailbroke to enable some features (some of which are addressed with newer OS since then) and never knew when I'd be stuck between upgrading or losing my jailbreak. Android isn't without some of the same problem, but at least I can do more with it out of the box without some exploit. I have the iPad and the Xoom, and I haven't touched the Xoom since the first week (I'm likely returning it). The iPad is everything I love about iOS, and the things it's missing aren't AS important to me on the tablet (although they are important). For the iPad, however, applications are significantly more important for me than on the phone, and most applications I use haven't made it to Android. The things I absolutely don't want to lose and thus won't switch back to the slightly superior (more refined) experience on the iPhone are: * Notification bar. iPhone's modal pop-up is just incredibly annoying. * Native Google Apps. For this I mean everything Google releases. I use a lot of it - Reader, Gmail, Maps, Navigation, Latitude, Google Voice. These are all web apps or backdated or both on iOS. The Maps experience, for example, is significantly better on an Android device than on iOS. You can simply do more useful things with it. And that's ignoring Navigation, which sells Android on its own if you drive a lot. * Background processes. I haven't used iOS enough to tell if its half-way implementation does enough for me. It very well might, but I know it is more limited. Sometimes this doesn't matter, but every now and then I just want to run multiple things at once without fighting the OS. * No reliance on iTunes. (I'd repeat that, but that'd be rude) * I can develop for it without an Apple computer. * I make my money off of Android right now. :) All in all, they are fair competitors with different mentalities. If I didn't use Google so much, I might be less inclined to stay with Android. Most of your complaints about Android are pretty fair and accurate.

by koenbok 16y ago

IDisposableHero 16y ago

There is no easy way to see what Android version you are exactly running Is Menu|settings|About phone not enough for you?

ydant 16y ago

It's nice to see a detailed comparison from an iPhone user that doesn't hate on Android just because it's not iPhone. I went from iPhone to Android after 6 months of owning an iPhone 3GS (I went to the original Motorola Droid). For me, it was a big relief, even though it was in many ways a step backward. The entire time I owned the iPhone I felt like I was doing something the benevolent overlord didn't want me to do - I jailbroke to enable some features (some of which are addressed with newer OS since then) and never knew when I'd be stuck between upgrading or losing my jailbreak. Android isn't without some of the same problem, but at least I can do more with it out of the box without some exploit. I have the iPad and the Xoom, and I haven't touched the Xoom since the first week (I'm likely returning it). The iPad is everything I love about iOS, and the things it's missing aren't AS important to me on the tablet (although they are important). For the iPad, however, applications are significantly more important for me than on the phone, and most applications I use haven't made it to Android. The things I absolutely don't want to lose and thus won't switch back to the slightly superior (more refined) experience on the iPhone are: * Notification bar. iPhone's modal pop-up is just incredibly annoying. * Native Google Apps. For this I mean everything Google releases. I use a lot of it - Reader, Gmail, Maps, Navigation, Latitude, Google Voice. These are all web apps or backdated or both on iOS. The Maps experience, for example, is significantly better on an Android device than on iOS. You can simply do more useful things with it. And that's ignoring Navigation, which sells Android on its own if you drive a lot. * Background processes. I haven't used iOS enough to tell if its half-way implementation does enough for me. It very well might, but I know it is more limited. Sometimes this doesn't matter, but every now and then I just want to run multiple things at once without fighting the OS. * No reliance on iTunes. (I'd repeat that, but that'd be rude) * I can develop for it without an Apple computer. * I make my money off of Android right now. :) All in all, they are fair competitors with different mentalities. If I didn't use Google so much, I might be less inclined to stay with Android. Most of your complaints about Android are pretty fair and accurate.