Will IOS' simplisticity lead to it's doom?

if people want to make iOS less 'simple' they jailbreak it and do whatever they want

iOS will never meet its doom whilst android hasn't caught up with those.

spent ages customising my GS2 but now what ??? I've finished the couple of AAA games and now the only thing I've got left to do is start messing about all over again. i much preferred my iPhone4s and when funds permit i will probably be straight back that way

admittedly android 4 and things such as GTA3 are a step in the right direction. only a small step though
 
and on the SD front are people forgetting that the only android handset that runs the latest version of the android software doesn't actually have an SD slot :(
 
I very much like the galaxy s2, it's a very nice phone, two of my brothers have it but it's not for me, I am one of the 'just works out the box' crowd, I've done my tinkering and customization with things when I was younger, now I just want things to work, not spend and evening or however long setting up.

The average user and that is most people, just want to get going ASAP with their technology, have it look nice from the word go and yes there is an allure to apple devices so that's why I'd disagree. Android is catching up, no doubt, said brothers are not tech savvy and yet their device guis look totally differenct, but iOS will not ever be doomed as it was put.
 
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The only problem that lies ahead for iOS is feature creep. The original iPhone was a great advertisement for the simple grid based icon layout, and great list views e.g. Settings app. But, how does that once efficient interface paradigm appear when more and more is added to it by default? My guess is not very.

I remember the settings app for my iPhone 3G on iOS 2 and the settings added over time has easily tripled its size. How this stuff scales is my only concern.
 
Not to its doom... but I do think Apple will have to vary the home screen layout for iOS 6 or 7. It's beginning to look pretty dated compared to the competition. I wouldn't expect to see anything like Android's layout though... probably something more similar to Windows Phone, e.g. some variation on the 'live tiles' concept. That's an uncluttered aesthetic that I can see Apple going for.

1) Build quality... debatable. The iPhone 4 is a heavy piece of kit. That doesn't necessarily mean it's well built. It's also not ergonomic in the slightest.

Antenna issues aside, the fit and finish of the iP4 is leagues ahead of most Android phones I've encountered. Even the more expensive Android devices seem to be nastily plasticky.

I remember the settings app for my iPhone 3G on iOS 2 and the settings added over time has easily tripled its size. How this stuff scales is my only concern.

Yeah, there is a huge number of settings in iOS 5! Not really sure how this could be made any easier, though. At least the settings are fairly well laid out.
 
It makes me cringe how people are literally going "SD cards are crap, didn't want one anyway" as some sort of coping mechanism or learnt behaviour just because their beloved iPhones don't have them. For those saying they wouldn't trust their stuff on an SD card as well, what? So they're okay for digital SLRs and work fine, but aren't good enough for your music? *facepalm*

It's okay to acknowledge that iPhones *should* have SD cards, but don't because it enables Apple to charge extortionate amounts for larger capacity iPhones, if they included SD slots on their phones they wouldn't sell anything above the 16GB version of their phones.

People also need to educate themselves on build quality, and build material quality. There's a massive difference. iPhones definitely have higher build material quality for sure, they use glass and metal because it makes people feel like they have a solid quality device, despite the fact that the 4 and 4S's design means the glass front and back break very easily when dropped where as the "cheap and plasticky" phones don't because plastic deforms and can absorb damage much better than glass.

My iPhone 3G went through a lot, it was dropped quite a few times on to hard surfaces such as concrete pavement and it only suffered nicks and scratches in the plastic casing, which is what you want, whereas the 4 and 4S are delicate in comparison despite people claiming it has much better quality materials.

The 4 and 4S look great, much better than earlier iPhones but they've sacrificed damage resistance for aesthetics. I like my devices to be thin and light, and my Galaxy note fits that quite well. It's mainly made out of plastic but its build quality is very high, I've dropped it a few times and it just bounces because its plastic shell can absorb shocks unlike glass, so think about it a bit more in future when some of you pull out the "better build quality" stuff because you've shown you don't understand what that actually means.

As for iOS, I had a 3G for 3 years and I loved it, but the OS felt incredibly stale since it's nearly exactly the same as it was upon release with the 2G. I went in to a carphone warehouse and played around with some Galaxy S2s and it confirmed my thoughts on iOS being old and stale with practically no customisation available. After I messed around on the S2s I was itching to get rid of my iPhone and get a high end Android phone and I ended up picking up a Galaxy note.

I think the type of person to buy an iPhone has already changed dramatically since they first came out, where they were loved by people into technology and computers. Now they seem to appeal to those who don't know much about technology at all and come across a bit "fisherprice", or "my first smartphone" type of affair but for people who can afford higher end stuff.

And before anyone tries to whinge and play the fanboy card, if you disagree with any of the points I've made, you're more than welcome to explain why and refute the points without having a moan and claim I only hold the opinions I do because I have an Android phone.
 
I think the type of person to buy an iPhone has already changed dramatically since they first came out, where they were loved by people into technology and computers. Now they seem to appeal to those who don't know much about technology at all and come across a bit "fisherprice", or "my first smartphone" type of affair but for people who can afford higher end stuff.

And before anyone tries to whinge and play the fanboy card, if you disagree with any of the points I've made, you're more than welcome to explain why and refute the points without having a moan and claim I only hold the opinions I do because I have an Android phone.

You reach a point when even the most tech-savy of people just feel there's better things to do then sit customising your phone all day :p
I spent the best part of 16 years customising a PC three times a year, truth be told it probably burnt me out. Im glad my phone is good, perfectly usable, well supported and quick out of the box. Customisation be damned :p
 
I think the type of person to buy an iPhone has already changed dramatically since they first came out, where they were loved by people into technology and computers. Now they seem to appeal to those who don't know much about technology at all and come across a bit "fisherprice", or "my first smartphone" type of affair but for people who can afford higher end stuff.

this is getting like the windows vs mac debate.

I've made similar anti android rants so I can't criticise too much but you've made a massive generalisation there, don't presume to know what type of person buys stuff, it's horses for courses. I've had every iphone, I've also had a fair few android handsets and blackberrys etc etc, I build my own PCs and I'm a pretty incurable geek. I work in the mobile industry and have for 15 years so I really know my way round a phone (you people don't know how good you've got it with your colour screens and internet etc etc).

And I prefer iOS. There's loads of reasons, there's a fair stack of things I could (and have) ranted about regarding android but what it boils down to is I prefer iOS.

Doesn't mean I'm dim or I want a beginners smartphone or I'm a sheep etc etc. I just have an opinion. There's a very good chance I sold a lot of the memory cards into the market that you lot bought (I used to be very close with SanDisk) and I've got a mountain of the bloody things and 2 phones (4s and Lumia) that don't use them, neither of them are anywhere near full and rarely miss the cards although I accept sideloading etc is a lot easier but it's not a big deal.

You wouldn't dream of standing outside mcdonalds shouting at people about how great KFC is, imagine commenting on what people were drinking... lager? OMG SHEEP! You need vodka, you can customise it.

So what!

Are you happy with what you bought?

Yes.

Good! Be happy! There's no need to make yourself feel good about whatever you've bought or had bought for you by proving it's better than what other people have got. I only do that sort of thing when I'm not convinced I've done the right thing :)
 
I switched from having 3 gens worth of iphones to the htc desire when it came out (and now own the sgs2) and bar the 2 day getting to know android period the rest was plain sailing and much prefer it now.
IOS is simplier yes, a lot simplier and many people like that but I think it says a lot for the take up of the android platform and the wealth of phones its on that people actually dont care about things being simple they just want a phone that they like the look of and can do all the things they want it to do (whether that be just make a phone call, or facebook, or games etc) and to be honest bar the slightly simplier interface apple devices do actually make certain things substainlly harder than android. (installing apps for example, updating firmware,the contast T+C notifications apple have got into a habit of doing - i have an ipad btw)

I have a problem with IOS in that it just feels old now, when it came out it was a breath of fresh air but android and even windows offer more for your user experience.

The IOS store does have much more content agreed, but unless your a 15 year old no one actually cares about that anymore. theres only so many games you can buy to waste 5 minutes or so many itterations of an app you already owned a year ago and its not as if the android market only has 10 apps or anything.

as above be happy with whatever you purchased, but theres nothing worse than a fanboy and some of the sdcard comments in this thread are seriously laughable.
 
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this is getting like the windows vs mac debate.
Not really no.

I've made similar anti android rants so I can't criticise too much but you've made a massive generalisation there, don't presume to know what type of person buys stuff, it's horses for courses. I've had every iphone, I've also had a fair few android handsets and blackberrys etc etc, I build my own PCs and I'm a pretty incurable geek. I work in the mobile industry and have for 15 years so I really know my way round a phone (you people don't know how good you've got it with your colour screens and internet etc etc).
I haven't made a massive generalisation, I'm just speaking about observations I have made.

And I prefer iOS. There's loads of reasons, there's a fair stack of things I could (and have) ranted about regarding android but what it boils down to is I prefer iOS.
I'm sure you do, but maybe you're missing the point of this thread?

Doesn't mean I'm dim or I want a beginners smartphone or I'm a sheep etc etc.
I never said you were dim or want a beginners' smart phone, or that you were a sheep (I think the sheep are the ones going "SD cards are crap, didn't want one anyway) I think you've misunderstood the point I was making. I was saying that that's the demographic they tend to appeal to now. I've observed the same thing with Macs where a chunk of people who buy them do so because they see them as a sort of status symbol, but otherwise have no idea what OSX is or how to even use it and get one because their mate/someone they know has one. I've observed this quite a bit with iPhones and Mac computers.

I just have an opinion. There's a very good chance I sold a lot of the memory cards into the market that you lot bought (I used to be very close with SanDisk)
Okay?

and I've got a mountain of the bloody things and 2 phones (4s and Lumia) that don't use them, neither of them are anywhere near full and rarely miss the cards although I accept sideloading etc is a lot easier but it's not a big deal.
It's entirely subjective, but you've missed my point again. The whole reason they don't include SD slots is because of how much markup there is with their higher capacity phones. It's okay to acknowledge that fact, if they had SD slots on their phones, they wouldn't sell nearly as many higher capacity ones.

But that's beside the point to the comments people have made about SD cards. If you don't need one, fair enough but let's not pretend Apple don't include them for any other reason than profit. They're a company that sell things, it's to be completely expected, it's just that their love of all things proprietary when it comes to hardware is wearing incredibly thin.

You wouldn't dream of standing outside mcdonalds shouting at people about how great KFC is, imagine commenting on what people were drinking... lager? OMG SHEEP! You need vodka, you can customise it.
What? This is a thread on a discussion forum, and my post is relevant to the thread topic. You'd have a point if all I had said was something like "LOLOL APPLE IS CRAP EVERYONE WHO BUYS APPLE IS A SHEEP ANDROID FOR THE WIN".

Are you happy with what you bought?

Yes.

Good! Be happy! There's no need to make yourself feel good about whatever you've bought or had bought for you by proving it's better than what other people have got. I only do that sort of thing when I'm not convinced I've done the right thing :)
Is this some sort of general comment, or is it aimed at me? What's with the obsession people have with if you're being critical, you're doing to to somehow make yourself "feel better" for some reason? I'm starting to think you don't get "get" this whole discussion forum thing.
 
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The reason that iPhones and iPods/iPod Touch's don't have SD card capability is simple, why would anyone buy an iPod Touch or a iPod Classic, or more than one portable media player at all if they could just buy an iPhone and whack a 100GB SD card in it?

How many of us own an iPhone and an iPod Touch or Classic and maybe even and iPad too?

They'd be competing against themselves
 
The reason that iPhones and iPods/iPod Touch's don't have SD card capability is simple, why would anyone buy an iPod Touch or a iPod Classic, or more than one portable media player at all if they could just buy an iPhone and whack a 100GB SD card in it?

How many of us own an iPhone and an iPod Touch or Classic and maybe even and iPad too?

They'd be competing against themselves

That's the whole point! Some people seemingly just don't want to see the fact that it's like that, however it doesn't change the fact that it's not cool, and other manufacturers get by with their devices having SD slots. It's just as if some people can't handle criticism of Apple or something.

It's okay to criticise the devices you own, like for example I think my Galaxy Note is great, and I wouldn't change it for any other phone, but I hate the place they chose the put the SD card slot, where you have to remove the battery to swap cards. I don't believe for a second that it was their only option to do it like that, *but* it's not a massive problem as I don't change cards often at all but it's still an annoyance.
 
The reason that iPhones and iPods/iPod Touch's don't have SD card capability is simple, why would anyone buy an iPod Touch or a iPod Classic, or more than one portable media player at all if they could just buy an iPhone and whack a 100GB SD card in it?

How many of us own an iPhone and an iPod Touch or Classic and maybe even and iPad too?

They'd be competing against themselves

That's not strictly true... Many people have an iPhone + iPad combination.

I have a iPod Nano, iPhone 4 and an iPad 2, none of them compete against each other, they just complement each other.

For me, having an Android device would just break the synergy I have with my mobile devices. I'm not saying an Android device can't have synergy with other mobile devices, it can. It just doesn't do it as well as Apple. This is my main reason for choosing Apple devices.
 
That's not strictly true... Many people have an iPhone + iPad combination.

I have a iPod Nano, iPhone 4 and an iPad 2, none of them compete against each other, they just complement each other.

....Thats my point, if Apple put SD card slots on their devices a lot of people would only buy one Apple product,

I have and iPad 2, an iPhone 4 and an iPod Classic and at the moment, each has their own use, my Classic stays in my car as it has all my music on it, my iPhone is daily use and my iPad is for long journeys (when I'm not driving) and keeping up with the news/reading magazines, If I could get a 100GB iPhone there would be no point having the Classic, admittedly the iPad is loads better than the iPhone for reading magazines on, less zooming lol
 

no most of what i said wasn't aimed at you so don't worry about that, the only bit that was was in response to this which seems like a big generalisation and is quite negative as a stereotype, I might as well suggest Android appeals to nerds, it's not true but it's a vague generalisation which you could defend if you believed it enough.

I think the type of person to buy an iPhone has already changed dramatically since they first came out, where they were loved by people into technology and computers. Now they seem to appeal to those who don't know much about technology at all and come across a bit "fisherprice", or "my first smartphone" type of affair but for people who can afford higher end stuff.

There's no type, they're broadened their market appeal but the fact Android holds a higher market share would suggest that this is as much if not more prevalent with that OS although I expect a heck of a lot of those people have an Android phone with no idea they have an Android device which is probably as it should be for the vast bulk of the market.

The rest of my post which you seem to have taken quite personally is just a comment on how these threads will never, ever be settled, like the mac vs windows thing.

Yes the thread title is vaguely a discussion topic but it's basically "I've switched from iOS to Android, it's better and I'm right" which is never going to get anywhere other than descent into fanboyism.

I totally get what a discussion forum is you don't need to patronise me to make a point. I was simply trying to say that this sort of debate is a bit futile. When it's about things like your phone, computer OS, choice of gfx card etc etc you can't really be wrong, you can have a different opinion but no amount of fighting over it is going to change someone's opinion.

I'm trying to come at it from a position of ambivolence, I've had a Galaxy S, S2, Desire and Desire HD and they were all great handsets. I prefer iPhones which I've demonstrated to myself by ending up buying another every time I get rid of one but I can't really explain why in the same way I can't explain why I prefer coffee to tea.

That's all! Not looking for a fight :)

Oh and good point on the SD cards. Like I said it's never presented itself as an issue to me but I do see the point of going from a 16gb to 32gb iphone is clearly more than the cost of a 16gb micro sd card, I just hadn't considered it because it doesn't affect me.
 
Truth be told, this could have been a good discussion about whether iOS's simplicity would have an impact and lead to its doom. Bringing Android in to it just set it to fail from the start.

We can argue until the cows come home about which OS is better. It really does just boil down to personal preference. Both OS's have good and bad points.

Choose which ever OS suits you best.
 
To get back on topic I do sort of agree that having the same OS over numerous devices does lead to a slightly hollow feeling when you get something new, I was left feeling a bit empty when I got my 4S after I sold my 4. I've even considered going back to a 3GS.

On the other hand something that's familiar is nice and even google acknowledge the issues around fragmentation of the OS and the fact you're either left to mfr whims over android upgrades or have to go homebrew which is occasionally risky (I have temporarily bricked my Galaxys from time to time) is frustrating.

There's no right answer, 3 generations of phone using the same OS is impressive in some senses but I can see why it would lead people to try other ecosystems. it has with me, and I ultimately end up coming back but I'm sure some won't.

It's hard to argue that Apple aren't past masters at tying you into their ecosystem with various devices.

Whether that's a good thing or not is debatable until the cows come home.
 
To get back on topic I do sort of agree that having the same OS over numerous devices does lead to a slightly hollow feeling when you get something new.

The whole point of having a product wide OS is that anybody can own any Apple product and not have to learn how to use an entirely new OS again when they upgrade, seems to make sense to me
 
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