Phones There it is: I switched to the Galaxy S7 Edge

[GigabitEthernet]

The last iPhone that Apple made that was better than the competition, I would say was the iPhone 5. After that, the Android OEMs caught up and then surpassed Apple.

Now it's Apple just copying the Android OEMs and doing very little innovation. It's really quite sad.

 

[Zaft]

The last iPhone that Apple made that was better than the competition, I would say was the iPhone 5. After that, the Android OEMs caught up and then surpassed Apple.

Now it's Apple just copying the Android OEMs and doing very little innovation. It's really quite sad.

I would say it was actually the iPhone 4, that thing blew away everyone.

 

[GigabitEthernet]

I would say it was actually the iPhone 4, that thing blew away everyone.

The iPhone 4s for me was an amazing product. I remember looking at the time at other products and the 4s just being so far ahead.

Apple is due another innovative product. They haven't made one for almost 10 years (i.e. the original iPhone; I'd say the iPhones up to the 5 were better than the competition but less innovative as time went on).

 

[Michael Goff]

Funny thing is, I have a Nexus 5 for development purposes and whenever it try to load a site it takes FOREVER on the latest chrome. I honestly look to see if I'm connected to the internet. It's that tricking noticeable. iOS 10 has been so good to me. The page renderings are amazing (I think they've tweaked it a-la metal) and they were already great.

The guy you responded to is the type that magically has more iOS issues than anyone while promoting another product.

 

[macrem]

I'm not quite switching all the way, but I'm dipping a toe in. It's a long story, but for the first time, I have ended up with two viable iPhones, my SE and my 6S plus.

Without a doubt, the SE is my dream machine. I'm a small phone user and that's that. For calls and texting and music and the ability to be always with me as unobtrusively as possible, it serves me well.

But the 6S Plus is still getting use as a pocket computer and higher end phone camera and video recording device. It's got the OIS I want for recording school plays and family gatherings and road trips. It's got the storage capacity for me to load all the lifestyle and media apps I enjoy on a device that size. It goes places my iPad mini can't. So the 6SPlus fills a niche I wouldn't have known I had if there hadn't been a series of events that let me have these two different form factors at the same time.

Now as to why I have decided to try a Note 7 to fill that pocket computer niche...it comes down to a growing distrust that Apple is no longer focused on attempting to offer me the best user experience with each new release.

Instead I feel like I'm starting to be shaken down for profits when they keep dismal specs like insufficient RAM or minimal storage long past everyone's patience and tolerance. Or withhold features like OIS from the smaller less expensive form factor for two device generations. If they do that due to technical limitations of the generation, fine. But if it's just a marketing strategy, I feel I am being exploited as an ISheeple.

I'm happy to pay for new technological advances but I am NOT happy to pay for spec upgrades that had been deliberately withheld to corral customers into device upgrades or just to be stingy.

So I'm going to broaden my options, explore my choices as a consumer. Many people love Android and stay with it for years. I won't know if I could be one of them without trying. I do know I go where I'm treated well and my needs are met in a gracious manner. I'm aware this could go badly. Now is the time that the consequences of failure will least impact me, so now I'm trying an Android device.

If you look at specs over performance, Android is right for you.

 

[5105973]

If you look at specs over performance, Android is right for you.

That is an interesting but inaccurate interpretation of my post.

I hope to give Android and Samsung's version of it in particular a fair chance to let me discover for myself the merits and faults of this ecosystem. I am not so much impressed by specs, but by the features those specs can enable, and how well they enable them.

My perception, and it could be wrong, is that Apple is rationing out specs and features across its various models and device generations more for profit maximization than for any other reason. I could be wrong. Fortunately my opinions and perceptions are flexible and not set in stone. I will just keep paying attention and taking it all in.

Meanwhile, I think in case I am being taken advantage of, I would be a fool to lock myself blindly into Apple's ecosystem and not at least investigate my alternatives. I'm even keeping my eyes on Microsoft these days.

 

[macrem]

That is an interesting but inaccurate interpretation of my post.

I hope to give Android and Samsung's version of it in particular a fair chance to let me discover for myself the merits and faults of this ecosystem. I am not so much impressed by specs, but by the features those specs can enable, and how well they enable them.

My perception, and it could be wrong, is that Apple is rationing out specs and features across its various models and device generations more for profit maximization than for any other reason. I could be wrong. Fortunately my opinions and perceptions are flexible and not set in stone. I will just keep paying attention and taking it all in.

Meanwhile, I think in case I am being taken advantage of, I would be a fool to lock myself blindly into Apple's ecosystem and not at least investigate my alternatives. I'm even keeping my eyes on Microsoft these days.

The markups for Galaxies & iPhones are rather similar. Let's say for instance that the higher res (edge) screen on the S7 costs more than the retina screen on the iPhone 6S+, but then Apple invested in force touch, which the S7 does not have. Btw by going higher in pixel density than the human eye can distinguish & then trying to start a spec war, to me that is exploiting consumer ignorance to sell more products while squandering resources. Apple does not deserve criticism for being more efficient. Apple needs less RAM because iOS is more efficient. The bottom line is 6S+ outperforms the S7 with less hardware resources, that is a praise-worthy engineering feat. To me, it's precisely what you want from a battery-driven mobile OS/device.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news: Windows Phone went to smartphone heaven. Seriously though more competition is good for all of us, overall Android is pretty cool. I hope you continue enjoying your Note.

 

[5105973]

The markups for Galaxies & iPhones are rather similar. Let's say for instance that the higher res (edge) screen on the S7 costs more than the retina screen on the iPhone 6S+, but then Apple invested in force touch, which the S7 does not have. Btw by going higher in pixel density than the human eye can distinguish & then trying to start a spec war, to me that is exploiting consumer ignorance to sell more products while squandering resources. Apple does not deserve criticism for being more efficient. Apple needs less RAM because iOS is more efficient. The bottom line is 6S+ outperforms the S7 with less hardware resources, that is a praise-worthy engineering feat. To me, it's precisely what you want from a battery-driven mobile OS/device.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news: Windows Phone went to smartphone heaven. Seriously though more competition is good for all of us, overall Android is pretty cool. I hope you continue enjoying your Note.

I do know that iOS and the hardware are optimized to run at maximum efficiency with each other. It's hard to be on this forum and not know that. But I am referring to decisions like releasing the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus with only 1GB of ram when it really could have used 2 to smooth out certain issues, especially in the Plus sized model. I don't want to revive old disputes about whether or not it was needed. The upgrade did come in the S cycle and many here felt it was overdue.

Oh I know the state of Windows phones. That was and is a hot mess. I was referring to Windows 10 and the Surface models. My husband loves his Surface Pro 4 and found it suited his purposes better than his various Apple devices. He hated to admit that at first because he'd been very critical of MS for years. He's going to give me his older Surface when he gets around to setting it up for me.

I have an older non retina MacBook Pro that still has an optical drive. It was actually still pretty new when I put it in storage to move two years ago. I'm not finished renovating my home office or dealing with contractors in the rest of my house so it's going to still feel new to me, I hope, when I dig it back out. Lol, but I primarily ran Windows on it. I was gaming on it. i was always more familiar with Windows than Mac OS because of work and gaming. But for hardware quality, nothing has ever come close to touching my current MBP or the one I had before it that was handed down to me by my husband. That first hand me down MBP of mine ran for years and then we sold it in still excellent condition.

I'm not leaving Apple. Their hardware was and remains exemplary in quality and iOS is becoming even more feature rich. I'm just expanding my horizons.

 

[akash.nu]

I have an older non retina MacBook Pro that still has an optical drive. It was actually still pretty new when I put it in storage to move two years ago. I'm not finished renovating my home office or dealing with contractors in the rest of my house so it's going to still feel new to me, I hope, when I dig it back out. Lol, but I primarily ran Windows on it. I was gaming on it. i was always more familiar with Windows than Mac OS because of work and gaming. But for hardware quality, nothing has ever come close to touching my current MBP or the one I had before it that was handed down to me by my husband. That first hand me down MBP of mine ran for years and then we sold it in still excellent condition.

I strongly recommend you to try out Mac OS properly. Once you get used to it Windows will feel alien. I was a Windows user back in the days but since I've moved to Mac I've never looked back.

 

[5105973]

I strongly recommend you to try out Mac OS properly. Once you get used to it Windows will feel alien. I was a Windows user back in the days but since I've moved to Mac I've never looked back.

Oh I did. I dual booted with Bootcamp. I ran Snow Leopard for everything else I was doing that wasn't gaming. Unfortunately all the software I was using to create custom game modifications was Windows based and the games themselves were developed primarily to run on Windows, so everything to do with the gaming community I was involved in at the time had to be on Windows. There were Mac versions of various games but they were never as well executed as the Windows versions. I was fairly fluent in both Windows and Mac environments. I can't say that now as I haven't had a chance to use my Windows desktop or my dual-boot MacBook Pro since the move and have therefore not had the chance to delve into the latest versions of either operating system. My husband still runs an iMac in his home office as our family's main computer.

Once all the dust settles and I get my office back I intend to keep on using both OS'es. I really don't want to be married to any one ecosystem anymore. For one thing, when my daughter is older and I go back to work, I want to be able to operate easily with whatever setup my employer uses.

 

[keysofanxiety]

If you look at specs over performance, Android is right for you.

If you look for 'specs' over real-world performance, Android is right for you.

Makes me laugh how they have octacore CPUs and 4GB RAM -- boasting that the phones are twice as powerful as Apple's -- yet that's what it takes to make the phones perform to an equivalent smoothness because the OS is bitterly unoptimised.

Apple release phones with half the RAM, half the cores, and half the clock speed. Yet due to OS optimisation, NAND speed, RAM access speed and many other factors, they absolutely smoke flagship Android phones in both real-world performance and benchmarks.

Throwing more and more specs at an operating system to increase performance is one of the laziest, least imaginative, and ultimately self-defeating ways to get better performance. It also means the OS gets more and more bloated as a result.

 

[epicrayban]

The markups for Galaxies & iPhones are rather similar. Let's say for instance that the higher res (edge) screen on the S7 costs more than the retina screen on the iPhone 6S+, but then Apple invested in force touch, which the S7 does not have. Btw by going higher in pixel density than the human eye can distinguish & then trying to start a spec war, to me that is exploiting consumer ignorance to sell more products while squandering resources. Apple does not deserve criticism for being more efficient. Apple needs less RAM because iOS is more efficient. The bottom line is 6S+ outperforms the S7 with less hardware resources, that is a praise-worthy engineering feat. To me, it's precisely what you want from a battery-driven mobile OS/device.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news: Windows Phone went to smartphone heaven. Seriously though more competition is good for all of us, overall Android is pretty cool. I hope you continue enjoying your Note.

Regarding the higher and higher display resolutions: Virtual reality.
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Throwing more and more specs at an operating system to increase performance is one of the laziest, least imaginative, and ultimately self-defeating ways to get better performance. It also means the OS gets more and more bloated as a result.

Except this isn't necessarily true with all OEMs. TouchWiz, for example, is doing the complete opposite of your sentence.

 

[ThatsMeRight]

For what it's worth, I'm experiencing no bugs or crashes whatsoever.

 

[Loco Emperor]

Good time to be on the iOS sideline with iOS 10 predicted to be the longest beta and the buggiest once it's released. With Android you'll get the stability and all the features now plus some that iOS 10 will get. And, you don't have to worry about not getting the iOS 10 features if you're on iPhone 6/6 Plus or older.

Stability with android? Are we talking about the same OS lmao.
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I had the GS7 Edge for 2 months and switched back because I missed iOS, not necessarily the iPhone itself.

The Galaxy is a good phone though, unfortunately Android just isn't as solid as iOS. If you can deal with that, enjoy the new phone!

So true. I ditched android happily this year. OS feels half baked

 

[The Game 161]

obviously the OS is important but not £800 worth spending on a new device for it. Now a phone has to do more to keep people entertained. IOS is great but with how limited the phone is in terms of features and what it can do it's why people are looking at other options. Having the same design can be boring as can be the IOS layout. It's been the same for what 5-6 years?

 

[Shanghaichica]

obviously the OS is important but not £800 worth spending on a new device for it. Now a phone has to do more to keep people entertained. IOS is great but with how limited the phone is in terms of features and what it can do it's why people are looking at other options. Having the same design can be boring as can be the IOS layout. It's been the same for what 5-6 years?

It's so limited that it still can't create a mobile hotspot that I can use with non Apple devices. They've only just got it to work with Apple devices most of the time. I've been using wifi hotspots on android since 2012 and it always works.
[doublepost=1470565950][/doublepost]

obviously the OS is important but not £800 worth spending on a new device for it. Now a phone has to do more to keep people entertained. IOS is great but with how limited the phone is in terms of features and what it can do it's why people are looking at other options. Having the same design can be boring as can be the IOS layout. It's been the same for what 5-6 years?

I totally agree. Well Samsung must be doing something right and Apple doing things wrong if even people like true fan are considering the note 7.

 

[The Game 161]

It's so limited that it still can't create a mobile hotspot that I can use with non Apple devices. They've only just got it to work with Apple devices most of the time. I've been using wifi hotspots on android since 2012 and it always works.

I think even with things like screen mirroring. You have to buy an apple TV to even do this. Don't get me wrong I like my apple TV box for what else it does and how I can watch certain stuff on it but with android you can mirror your phone onto your TV without paying to do so. So from a cost point of view it's better on android. Watching films lately all we have done is mirror my edge to watch films on showbox for example and the quailty has been fine.

 

[MRU]

It's so limited that it still can't create a mobile hotspot that I can use with non Apple devices. They've only just got it to work with Apple devices most of the time.l

?? I've been using hotspot on my iPhones for years with non Apple devices without issue.

Maybe there is some carrier related differences between EU and USA ? (Hotspot dependent on carrier implementation / support)

 

[MRU]

. So from a cost point of view it's better on android. Watching films lately all we have done is mirror my edge to watch films on showbox for example and the quailty has been fine.

Well if your going to be torrenting movies with showbox then of course there is a cost differential

In fairness, that is something you wouldn't be able to do on an iPhone even if it supported full mirroring to chromecast.

Most of my movies are ultraviolet digital versions that I got when purchasing blu-ray and they work fine streaming regardless of device (android or iOS) to either Apple TV or Chromecast. So if your using legitimate sources to start with (such as Flixster / Google Play Movies or similar) the experience is much the same regardless of iOS or Android.

 

[The Game 161]

digital

Well if your going to be torrenting movies with showbox then of course there is a cost differential

In fairness, that is something you wouldn't be able to do on an iPhone even if it supported full mirroring to chromecast.

Most of my movies are ultraviolet digital versions that I got when purchasing blu-ray and they work fine streaming regardless of device (android or iOS) to either Apple TV or Chromecast. So if your using legitimate sources to start with (such as Flixster / Google Play Movies or similar) the experience is much the same regardless of iOS or Android.

wel i've just brought a box where i can get live sport, showbox on it so won't need to mirror from my phone but still nice to have on the go. Why pay for something when you can get it for free?

 

[MRU]

wel i've just brought a box where i can get live sport, showbox on it so won't need to mirror from my phone but still nice to have on the go. Why pay for something when you can get it for free?

Legality

I'm just kind of finicky with copyright as I have experienced people using / stealing my own artwork without permission and as we have a small recording studio here too, I just can't rationalise torrenting stuff like music and video - I would personally go without or wait until It was on any of my paid subscription services such as GPM / Spotify / Netflix or I would simply buy or rent the movie or music.

If someone has done the work or they have invested a lot of money in making something, they should be paid for it. I know that may sound terribly moral but I just mean it honestly. Some of my projects have taken months of work and investment, to see it stolen or used without permission or recompense would pee me off, so I can't do that to someone else.

Even TV wise, even though there has been a massive rise in Android TV boxes to circumvent the likes of Sky and get paid content for free, I still just use Freesat and if the programme is not on, I go without.

I'm probably in the minority these days though, but I do feel the 'free' culture has only exacerbated the 'sense of entitlement' culture / generation

God this thread has just made me feel very old now

 

[The Game 161]

Legality

I'm just kind of finicky with copyright as I have experienced people using / stealing my own artwork without permission and as we have a small recording studio here too, I just can't rationalise torrenting stuff like music and video - I would personally go without or wait until It was on any of my paid subscription services such as GPM / Spotify / Netflix or I would simply buy or rent the movie.

If someone has done the work or they have invested a lot of money in making something, they should be paid for it. I know that may sound terribly moral but I just mean it honestly. Some of my projects have taken months of work and investment, to see it stolen or used without permission or recompense would pee me off, so I can't do that to someone else.

Even TV wise, even though there has been a massive rise in Android TV boxes to circumvent the likes of Sky and get paid content for free, I still just use Freesat and if the programme is not on, I go without.

I'm probably in the minority these days though, but I do feel the 'free' culture has only exacerbated the 'sense of entitlement' culture / generation

God this thread has just made me feel very old now

Well techinally as long as you aren’t downloading anything you are ok. Sadly people like sky only have themselves to blame with the crazy prices they charge. These boxes are only going to get bigger and when it goes from server to server it’s impossible to track. Really the only people who could get in trouble is the people selling them or making them. Certainly when they are promoted all over facebook people realise they are fine to use.


The quality isn’t always there but sometimes it doesn’t always matter. I get why people may not want to use them but everybody here at work has them. As if people are paying £70-80 a month on sky for example having that money saved each month makes a huge difference to their daily lives. Least on android the option is there to use it….(there I get back on topic by mentioning android )

 

[MRU]

l. Least on android the option is there to use it….(there I get back on topic by mentioning android )

Lol back on topic :


BTW how much did you sell your Edge for ? Hope you faired better than me.

 

[Oohara]

?? I've been using hotspot on my iPhones for years with non Apple devices without issue.

Maybe there is some carrier related differences between EU and USA ? (Hotspot dependent on carrier implementation / support)

Same here. 2-3 years ago it used to be that my iPhone hotspot connection would turn off sometimes after ca 15 minutes use, but now it works mostly flawlessly for me with my PC as well as my Samsung tablet. In fact until just a few months ago, the device that would have the biggest trouble connecting to my iPhone hotspot was my 2015 MBP 15"

That said though, managing the hotspot has always been much smoother on Android. That is, I'd just put a simple on/off widget on the home screen and be able to turn the hotspot on/off in a heartbeat. It's always frustrated me that I need to go two levels deep in Settings to do that in iOS.

PS I'm in Europe too (Sweden) so maybe that does have something to do with it.

 

[Shanghaichica]

?? I've been using hotspot on my iPhones for years with non Apple devices without issue.

Maybe there is some carrier related differences between EU and USA ? (Hotspot dependent on carrier implementation / support)

I've never been able too use my iPhone's hotspot to a non Apple product. I tried again this morning with my S7 edge and it didn't work. It works perfectly with my apple stuff. I'm in England. Maybe it's my carrier (O2) but it's only been in the last year that I've even been able to get it to work reliably with my apple devices. However having said that I've been able to tether perfectly from my android devices on o2 in the past.
[doublepost=1470575535][/doublepost]

Legality

I'm just kind of finicky with copyright as I have experienced people using / stealing my own artwork without permission and as we have a small recording studio here too, I just can't rationalise torrenting stuff like music and video - I would personally go without or wait until It was on any of my paid subscription services such as GPM / Spotify / Netflix or I would simply buy or rent the movie or music.

If someone has done the work or they have invested a lot of money in making something, they should be paid for it. I know that may sound terribly moral but I just mean it honestly. Some of my projects have taken months of work and investment, to see it stolen or used without permission or recompense would pee me off, so I can't do that to someone else.

Even TV wise, even though there has been a massive rise in Android TV boxes to circumvent the likes of Sky and get paid content for free, I still just use Freesat and if the programme is not on, I go without.

I'm probably in the minority these days though, but I do feel the 'free' culture has only exacerbated the 'sense of entitlement' culture / generation

God this thread has just made me feel very old now

People have to get paid for their work e.g musicians, authors, actors etc. I like to pay for my content because I think it's the right thing to do.