Whenever I tell someone that my next phone probably won’t be an iPhone, the reaction is always the same: the eyes widen and the tone of voice shifts to complete surprise. “Why not?”

1. September 24, 2011
batteryfast.co.uk
89 Percent Getting Another iPhone, Why
I’m Not
89 Percent Getting Another iPhone, Why form above all others. In my experience owning an
I’m Not iPhone 3GS for two years, iOS is still the smoothest,
simplest operating system, with better apps than
Whenever I tell someone any other platform. And Apple always makes great
that my next phone pro- hardware.
bably won’t be an
iPhone, the reaction is But to get back to the original question–why I’m a
always the same: the statistical anomaly–the simple answer is that An-
eyes widen and the tone droid offers features that I want, and that the iPhone
of voice shifts to com- doesn’t provide. I’ve been through these reasons be-
plete surprise. “Why not?” fore, but with the launch of Apple’s iPhone 5 around
the corner, they’re worth repeating:
That’s an understandable reaction. A new survey of
515 smartphone owners by UBS found that 89 per- Turn-By-Turn Directions
cent of iPhone buyers will stick with Apple for their
next handset. Another 4 percent were undecided. When my wife and I are in the car and need direc-
Android, by comparison, only had a 58 percent re- tions, we always use her Droid Incredible instead of
tention rate. Nearly a third of Android users sur- my iPhone, because it’s simply better at navigation.
veyed said they’ll switch to the iPhone. Voice-guided directions are available, and Google’s
map quality rivals any dedicated GPS. I could buy
an expensive GPS apps, or use MapQuest’s free na-
vigation app for the iPhone, but I’d rather have an
excellent navigation app built into the phone.
See Also:
“Listen To”
joliprint
About a year ago, I stopped buying individual songs
and albums, and started relying on streaming music
I don’t begrudge the iPhone devotees, because I’m services like MOG, Rhapsody, Slacker Radio and
Printed with
not the kind of technology user who exalts one plat- Pandora. The voice commands built into iOS for
http://www.batteryfast.co.uk/battery-technology/89-percent-getting-another-iphone-why-im-not/
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2. September 24, 2011
batteryfast.co.uk
89 Percent Getting Another iPhone, Why I’m Not
listening to music became worthless to me, because It Has Enough Apps
they don’t support these third-party apps. (Apple’s
highly-anticipated iCloud is now less useful to me Android doesn’t have as many apps as the iPhone,
as well.) Now, I lack a hands-free way to queue up but it has all of the apps that I use regularly, inclu-
music in the car, and as a result I listen to less music ding Yelp, ESPN ScoreCenter, Twitter and Kindle.
while I drive. Android provides a solution with the Obviously this isn’t a feature, but I mention it be-
“Listen to” voice command, which can load artists cause the iPhone’s app selection is its best argument
in third-party music apps simply by holding the against Android or any other platform. Quantity
phone’s search button and speaking. only matters if the OS you’re considering doesn’t
have the apps you want. In my case, Android does.
A Better Gmail
Throughout the day, I get a lot of e-mails from the
same group of friends, which leads to lengthy conver- CloudTag: Getting , Another , iPhone , samsung nc10
sation threads. The iPhone’s Mail app is horrible at batteries , Hp 530 batteries , Toshiba pa3399u-2brs
handling threaded e-mails, because you have to tap batteries , dell latitude d630 batteries
a button to read each new message. Android’s Gmail
app allows you to scan through an entire thread of
e-mails by swiping your finger, saving time.
Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a com-
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Although Apple allows
alternative Web brow-
sers on its platform, it
doesn’t really let you
take full advantage of them, because you can’t set
an alternative browser as the default. With Android,
you can any third-party app as the default for cer-
tain functions, such browsing the Web, watching
a video or getting directions. As far as features go,
this one’s pretty nerdy, but that’s the kind of smart-
phone user I am.
Hardware Distinctions
After two years with a 3.7-inch screen, I want a
joliprint
bigger phone. Fortunately, 4.3-inch displays have
become the norm for Android phones, whereas the
iPhone 5 probably won’t have a screen larger than
4 inches. I don’t care for physical keyboards, but if
Printed with
I did, Android would offer that option as well.
http://www.batteryfast.co.uk/battery-technology/89-percent-getting-another-iphone-why-im-not/
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