Android vs iPhone (Performance and My Buying Experience)

OK, I have just purchased an iPhone 6, after having had an iPhone 3, iPhone 4 and Android. After having 2 iPhones, I decided to give an Android a shot, just to check it out, and I was impressed with the video and HD image quality.

Which Do I Like Best?

The iPhones by far!

Why Did The Android Lose? SPEED!

I don’t know why, but my Android slowed way down, and it was taking way too much time to load, email especially (Yahoo in particular).

I have had my inbox full of messages, since I don’t clear it out often, and that could seem a culprit, but when I switched to the new iPhone 6 last night, it loads lightning fast, and I was once again reminded of the little iPhone nuances that I love, just from using the email. I love how they organize emails on the iPhone, where the same email threads are grouped together, and just going through email is a pleasant experience with Apple’s well thought out user face, combined with the speed.

Here are a couple images I took:

Android Next To iPhone 4

This was taken with my new iPhone 6.

iPhone 6 Next To iPhone 4

I took this with the Android.

Speed Was The Deal Breaker

I have had the Android for almost 1 year, and it was just so slow, which is not only annoying, but ended up taking too much of my time. If I went to check email, say when walking into Target, I would select email when I got out of my car, and it would finally load once I was in the store, which is like a minute or more to load, and if I turned the phone on its’ side, or vice versa, and the screen switched views, that would slow it down even more.

For someone that works on the internet, and relies on email for communication, this was becoming very inefficient. The whole phone was also a bit slow to operate as well, but email became a serious thorn in my side.

What Did I Do To Try To Speed It Up?

I wasn’t going to give up on it, as it is a nice phone, and I have only had it for a year.

So, I of course searched for things like ‘Speed Up Android Phone’ etc., and it turns out there is a whole lot about this topic.

Here’s The Real Kicker

All the articles on this have all sorts of different solutions. I started getting confused, and overwhelmed, just surfing through these lengthy, and rather technical, proposed solutions.

Here’s Why I Love Apple

In my previous experience, using both earlier models (3 and 4), the phone barely slowed down at all, and with both of them, I managed to keep them operational for the entire 2 year contracts (which are apparently over with, which was another thorn in my side with this ordeal: trying to upgrade in a number of retail establishments).

Anyways, with the iPhone 4, I actually skipped a bunch of software updates; every time they would suggest it, I would just select not now, or skip, or whatever. The phone was working fine anyways.

Then I Updated The Software Finally

Wow, I had a completely new phone, with so many improvements, very functional, and helpful improvements. I couldn’t believe how much they changed my phone, it looked different, yet it didn’t become entirely different, like so many of the Windows updates seem to.

It’s like the people at Apple understand the concept of: ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’.

Whereas with Windows Updates, they just make things more confusing, for me anyways. Perhaps they are improved, but there has been a learning curve with every computer upgrade I have gotten. (Thankfully a friend showed me how to install the old fashioned start menu).

Here’s a Screen Shot While I am Writing This Post:

And that made things much easier to me (Using the old start menu). I still get lost navigating the other areas of my PC that are in the new Windows OS set up.

That example of Windows Operating Systems was mainly for comparison, but I also believe the same people are behind the Android, but that’s the end of that example/rant.

Apple seems to have this down pat, at least for my personal preferences.

Back To Speeding Up The Android

So, initially, I saw all these examples of screenshots etc., on how to go inside settings, and disable apps, delete old files, on and on. Then there were a plethora of new apps recommended to speed things up.

While looking at this, and getting a little overwhelmed, I remembered how my iPhones always kept their performance, and I put it off.

Attempts To Get A New Phone

By now I decided to just look into an iPhone, and perhaps while I am there, ask about speeding up my current phone, and see what they say.

This Was A Serious Pain

I have used cellphones since their inception, maybe 18-20 years ago. It has always been a pretty breezy and easy experience to upgrade. This was not my last experience.

I started off at a Best Buy, and told them I am interested in an upgrade, and they proceeded to tell me about the NEXT plans, and how that is probably better, but when I mentioned that I have an old plan, with unlimited data, they weren’t sure which would be better for me (you can’t get unlimited data plans like I have anymore). Then they revealed how they can’t even renew 2 year contracts anyways, so I should try an AT&T store.

I headed over to the AT&T store, and there were quite a few people waiting, so then I headed over to Target, since I had seen AT&T offers in there (my current carrier). They also reaffirmed that you can’t do the 2 year contracts in there either, but I did hang around to receive some advice both in my next purchase/contract, and also some tips in speeding up the Android.

Suggested Apps To Speed Up The Android

The gentleman in there suggested Start Up Manager, and Clean Master Apps. I looked them up when I got home, saw there are millions of downloads, and they have good reviews, like 4.5 stars IIRC.

So I proceeded to download them, and started using them right away, as they were easy enough. Right away Clean Master showed like 1.5 Gigabytes of memory just sitting idle, or something like that, and went from a scary red screen, to either blue or green, meaning all good.

Well, it seemed a little better, but not much, and eventually, the phone was still really slow.

I did some more surfing, and once again was overwhelmed with all the info, and neither of these 2 apps were of the first ones suggested that I came across, and so my speeding up the Android process was about to be retired, as I wasn’t willing to spend too much time trying out all kinds of different suggestions.

I did look at memory in the storage settings, and saw a few Gigs of memory eaten up by images and videos, so I uploaded all those, and deleted them, and it didn’t help.

Argh! Now it has been too much time spent on this already (I thought, knowing an iPhone will likely run fast ruight away, and not need all this maintenance that it seems my Android needs).

Off To The Stores Again

This time I went to my local mall, where I got the Android, to an AT&T cart in the middle of the mall, and started talking about what I wanted (just a phone upgrade). They started looking at my info, and speculating whether this NEXT plan would be a better fit. Well, it turns out they thought in my case, it wouldn’t be better, that my plan would be hard to beat, but then they said they can’t do 2 year contracts anymore.

Say What?

This was bizarre, since I had looked on the AT&T site, and it said I am eligible. I guess there are some changes in ownership going on, along with organization of their plans, and so that is not available.

This is where things are getting frustrating, and I am now officially spending way too much time on this.

So I left, thinking I would just call AT&T, since they said the upgrades can only be done through customer service.

I personally like getting a new phone in person, but I was not going to jump into that NEXT plan, as having unlimited DATA is impossible to get.

So I walked through the mall, to see what food was available, and didn’t see anything I wanted (trying to keep it healthier), but I did see a Best Buy Mobile Store.

I went in, and basically asked what is available, through all carriers, to feel it out (being frustrated with AT&T).

After some talking, Verizon looked like a possibility, but eventually, it came back to my plan being hard to beat. (And apparently, Verizon throttles your DATA usage after 6 Gigs of usage, and so their ‘Unlimited Data Plan’ has a subtle catch).

I passed on that, and as I was leaving, I noticed on the display, AT&T has 2 year contract offers, $299 for an iPhone 6 16gig yadda yadda. I asked, and the salesman said they can’t do that in store, and they also can’t remove the advertisement flyer under the phone.

Say What????

At this point, things are getting like the Twilight Zone…am I dreaming?

I briefly asked, and the salesman explained with a silly analogy, which I thought was dumb, and figured I should leave before I insult this man who is just doing his job, and in reality is dealing with the same confusion.

They did say the corporate store is open until 8pm (it was 7), and on the way out, I decided to give it a try.

Corporate Store at 7PM

First off, they close at 8? Anyways, there were 2 people getting helped, and maybe 2-3 more people who were waiting. The woman came over and took my name, for the waiting list, and informed me it was over an hour wait. I couldn’t believe it could take that long. She offered me to take an appointment, and I declined, and gave her my name to put me on the list.

Sure enough, it was an hour. After 45 minutes, it was 8:05, and the SAME TWO PEOPLE WERE BEING HELPED…REALLY?

I just left, headed to Panera for the Power Kale Chicken Caesar and Broccoli Cheddar Soup (may as well make something of this trip).

Then It Occurred To Me – Just Buy One!

I realized here I was going through all this to try and get the phone for $399, when I can just buy one for $850. Suddenly it hit me, just buy one!

So I turned around, after getting off my highway exit (the shopping center was only like 10 min away, and I was this invested already).

I headed over to Best Buy, and inquired about buying a phone. We talked for a bit, and I had hope, when this nice young woman seemed optimistic that the NEXT Plan may in fact be better.

She seemed trustworthy, and I believed her. Well, eventually, the same ending, my plan is hard to beat.

So I pondered, asked pricing, and finally said I will take a 64 Gig iPhone 6.

We did that transaction, and I headed home, called AT&T, and over the phone they were great. I activated the phone within maybe 30 minutes, and I had to switch phones (they called me on the new one), and they set it up, also made sure all was good on their end to keep my unlimited data plan, and the rest is history…well not exactly, since that was last night.

I Love iPhones

So I logged in to email, and it moved like lightning. I don’t use my phones for a whole lot, mostly email, text, some pics and videos to seize the moment, and internet surfing.

As I have been using it for last night and this morning, I am reminded of all the nuances of the iPhone that I love. Thanks Apple for a great product!

My Android is still mint. I am not sure what I will do with it, maybe use it for a camera etc. I’ll come back with anything else of note.

Wow I can’t believe how long this post ended up being. I wanted to sort of vent my experience here, and hopefully offer some insight into iPhones vs Androids, both in their performance and function, and purchasing them, with sharing my experience.