I literally just put my finger on why I find the iPhone more enjoyable to use.

mrochester

mrochester

mrochester

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Every time I get a new Android phone, I am ever hopeful that the feel of the device will match the iPhone 4S, and every time, I seem to come away disappointed. I've just today taken delivery of a Samsung Galaxy S3, and even all the power and might of the S3 can't match the feel of iOS on the 4S. It suddenly occurred to me when I was scrolling through the settings menu what it was about the S3 that was bugging me; the screen and OS's ability to track your finger movements just can't compare to how the screen and iOS can on the iPhone. This to me strikes the difference between the 2 devices; the iPhone just has a much more natural feel to it, like I am manipulating a physical object, even though it is virtualised on the screen. It's really hard to express how this tangible and measurable difference translates other than to say it feels much more natural and in-tune with how you'd expect it to work; if you put your finger on a piece of paper and moved it around, you'd expect the piece of paper to follow your finger movements exactly and not be trailing behind.

The question is, can anyone else out there match what Apple have managed to do with iOS in this respect? If even the most powerful Android phone on the market can't, is there any hope that it will ever be able to do so? What is it about the SGS3 that can't keep track of finger movements as well as the iPhone? Is this an inherent issue of the Android platform? I will need to bust out my Nokia Lumia 710 and see how that compares to both. I suspect the Lumia 710 will fall in line with the tracking capabilities of the iPhone since when I last used it, it felt just as good as when using the 4S.


EDIT - The Lumia 710 is somewhere between the 4S and SGS3 in terms of finger tracking ability.
 
Rich_L said:
Jelly Bean tbh (by all accounts, not used it myself)
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We keep hearing how the next version of Android is gonna wipe the floor with iOS. Consider me somewhat sceptical that JB is going to make any difference since nothing has yet and it's been 5 years. I'll have to judge it myself; was it next month Samsung said they'd be releasing Jelly Bean for the SGS3?
 
Jellybean is the only OS that has felt totally smooth. It is slicker than a jailbroken iPhone, that's for sure.

Even with ICS it never felt quite right. It's like they have started from scratch.

Certainly wipes the floor with iOS, far more functional and maintains a good level of slickness. ICS was a step closer, but this is finally there.

(I had an iPhone 4 previously so can compare)
 
Or just go play with a Nexus tablet in a few weeks if any stores have them in stock :)

Fair enough to be sceptical but it seems slightly silly to dismiss something out of hand (Project Butter / Jelly Bean) which has specifically been designed to address the exact point you are making - the smoothness and response time of the touch interface.
 
Rich_L said:
Or just go play with a Nexus tablet in a few weeks if any stores have them in stock :)

Fair enough to be sceptical but it seems slightly silly to dismiss something out of hand (Project Butter / Jelly Bean) which has specifically been designed to address the exact point you are making - the smoothness and response time of the touch interface.
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Not dismissing it, just highly sceptical given we've been told for so long now how the next version of Android will be able to match iOS, and yet we're still waiting! Hopefully this'll finally be the time it happens.
 
And vice versa. Waiting for the next version of iphone to have enough features to make it flexible as a device (I might buy it). I have the Nexus S currently and it has Jelly Bean. I get Google Now, voice guided turn by turn and a easy to use youtube app. I'd prefer to get a bigger screen after I have been used to reading stuff on my ipad (which has been jailbroken).

In an ideal world I'd have the smoothness of iOS with the functionality of android. This won't happen as android's UI had more features to it such as widgets, notification bar and a graphical app switcher. All these make it useful.
 
mrochester said:
Not dismissing it, just highly sceptical given we've been told for so long now how the next version of Android will be able to match iOS, and yet we're still waiting! Hopefully this'll finally be the time it happens.
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Pls let us know how you feel JB compares when you get the chance
 
I can't say I've noticed or found any of that to be an issue.

I have the Galaxy Nexus running Jelly Bean here and it really doesn't feel much different to the GS3, they're both very smooth and responsive.

I do think iOS is a decent enough software experience, it's just a shame that people tend to dismiss it as 'rubbish' in this part of the forum. Just because it doesn't do some of the more fancy things you want, doesn't make it rubbish.

Its aim is to provide a high quality and responsive app launching platform, because most of our time is spent within different apps. Widgets aren't hugely important and in reality, most of them aren't great or are a bit dodgy.
 
I find the s3 very sluggish in some respects, for example pressing the home screen button when browsing the net it can take more than a second to switch. Highly annoying.
 
mattyfez said:
I find the s3 very sluggish in some respects, for example pressing the home screen button when browsing the net it can take more than a second to switch. Highly annoying.
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That's deliberate, there's a delay so it can detect when you're double-tapping the home button.
 
Rimsy said:
You don't have to be rooted - its S Voice. To remove the homescreen lag open S Voice, menu, settings, untick double click home button to launch. Voila.
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Aha, nice. I don't think that worked with Vlingo on the S2, so assumed a tweak would be needed!
 
OP:

That menu lag effect is touchwiz not Android. Samsung do that on purpose right? WP7 also add some animation slack, Sony and HTC have instant menu response like the iPhone.
That slack is probably designed for consistent UI speed, most people dont have ultra smooth finger movement :p (I often cause stuttering on the HTC launcher becase its too responsive)

OS feel comes from software consistency (speeds optional) and hardware speed (SoC, memory, touch controller etc)
The One S is still the 'snappyest' I've used so far :p
Project butter is basically just nailing animation consistency all over.

iOS is more cohesive in general, that's probably why you think it's more enjoyable?

edit: heres a One S snappy test from one of our gang. :D
 
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You can alter a setting (if rooted) to make the animations quicker by reducing the response time that Samsung have set however the OP will likely complain about this as in previous posts he has moaned about having to do stuff to get things working how he likes them....

Samsung set the response time for some reason, presumably after researching it... Shocker that some people like it and some don't. You can't make everyone happy.

It could be seen as an advantage that the end user can make adjustments to setup the phone more to their liking but even this receives criticism from some people...



BTW, It's not that I hate Apple products or that I am an Android "fanboy", it's just the OP seems to be banging on about how he finds the iPhone much better quite often much like Tom_D bangs on every 2 secs about the build quality of the Nexus 7....

I think Apple products are very good. I personally don't like their whole ethos and their constant bitching about how everyone "stole their technology and ideas" (hypocrites much?)... The two views can be separated.
 
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I felt the same but after getting the Nexus 7 I can confirm that Jelly Bean solves the annoyance for you. You now connect with the screen the same as iOS :)
 
OP are you sure it's actually a case of iOS doing it better or it just being what you're used to? You've spent so long on iphones that when you move your finger a certain amount, you subconsciously except the menu to move a certain amount and anything else feels wrong? Obviously i'm talking about when you flick rather than dragging your finger, which I assume is the same across all platforms

I haven't used Android regularly since 1.6, but I'd be surprised if it had gotten this far with such a fundamental problem you describe?
 
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