My 1st experience with an iPhone

[TDT]

First of all, I want everyone to know that I'm no MS/Apple/Google fan, so I'll never be biased in any way in my opinions. I love to try and test things, from OS'es to smartphones  and tablets and so on...even cars :)

 

Anyway, up until 2 days ago, I had experienced everything in terms of OS (Windows - every damn version up to 8.1, OSX - Hackintosh, Linux - many distros, finally settled on eOS) and almost everything from the smartphone world. That is, Android and Windows Phone. Never had an Apple product, never thought I would. But I decided to get one, just to be at peace that I tried everything and I can get an honest opinion after.

 

So I got a 4S for a good deal, with iOS 7.0.6 on it, neverlocked, black, 16GB, etc. The first thing that I wanted to do was to jailbreak it, since I'm addicted to tweaking, rooting, flashing, etc. Like I said in another thread here, it didn't work, because the OS was updated OTA and evasion's tool doesn't work with this. So I've given up and upgraded to 7.1.1, since (hopefully) a jailbreak for this is around the corner.

 

I'll get right to the pros and cons with iOS and the iPhone, in my opinion:

 

Pros:

- even at his age, the 4S works beautiful, even with iOS 7 on it. No lag, no delay, nothing.

- the screen

- maybe some would consider it a disadvantage, but for me it's a +: its weight. It feels very solid in my hand, and I prefer that to a plastic phone anyday

- battery - I worked the damn thing for a day and a half, with wi-fi and 3G and some games, calls, sms, etc., and the battery was still at around 13% when I plugged in the charger

- Safari - I can't believe how fast this browser loads pages. Compared to Chrome and other browsers on Android, it's freakin' amazing

 

Cons:

- HUGE icons for this screen size. I've read that when you jailbreak the iphone, you can resize the damn icons, but why on earth didn't Apple give us the choice by default?!

- ugly address book. Compared to Android, it's like Notepad vs. Word. It's just a list of names. That's it. I know it's all eye-candy, but I would've loved to have it like on Android, with big photos and stuff. I got an app from AppStore, Contacts+, that looks just like I want, but it should've been on default...

- no custom ringtones - this is obvious, and I did managed to get some ringtones on it using iTools, but come on...why restrict this????

- can't change the default web browser - at least I don't know how

- UGLY sms app - again, a list with names. And again, I'm comparing with Android.

- no shortcuts for direct dial/direct sms - I know there's a way, a complicated one, to add contact shortcuts to home screen, but I'll never bother

 

And that's about it, at least for now. But let me add something: I've noticed this since I've bought my Windows Phone, and the iPhone confirms it - it's a HUGE difference when you build a OS for a handful of hardware configurations as opposed to an open-source OS like Android, with its fragmentation. This device is quite slow by today's standards, yet it performs amazingly with iOS 7 on it. I can't say the same about, for example, Samsung i9000 (Galaxy S), one of my former smartphones with a similar hardware configuration. There's a huge difference.

Also, the apps are different too. I used Top Eleven, for example, a soccer mananger game, on Android, and I installed it on this iPhone too, since it's multiplatform. Big difference! Not the UI, that's almost the same on both platforms, but the performance on iOS is a LOT better than on Android on a similar hardware config.

 

In the end, like I said, I'm waiting for that jailbreak, so if any of you get some news about it before I do, please post it here. :)

 

[The Evil Overlord]

*statement withdrawn*

[TAZMINATOR]

First of all, I want everyone to know that I'm no MS/Apple/Google fan, so I'll never be biased in any way in my opinions. I love to try and test things, from OS'es to smartphones  and tablets and so on...even cars :)

 

Anyway, up until 2 days ago, I had experienced everything in terms of OS (Windows - every damn version up to 8.1, OSX - Hackintosh, Linux - many distros, finally settled on eOS) and almost everything from the smartphone world. That is, Android and Windows Phone. Never had an Apple product, never thought I would. But I decided to get one, just to be at peace that I tried everything and I can get an honest opinion after.

 

So I got a 4S for a good deal, with iOS 7.0.6 on it, neverlocked, black, 16GB, etc. The first thing that I wanted to do was to jailbreak it, since I'm addicted to tweaking, rooting, flashing, etc. Like I said in another thread here, it didn't work, because the OS was updated OTA and evasion's tool doesn't work with this. So I've given up and upgraded to 7.1.1, since (hopefully) a jailbreak for this is around the corner.

 

I'll get right to the pros and cons with iOS and the iPhone, in my opinion:

 

Pros:

- even at his age, the 4S works beautiful, even with iOS 7 on it. No lag, no delay, nothing.

- the screen

- maybe some would consider it a disadvantage, but for me it's a +: its weight. It feels very solid in my hand, and I prefer that to a plastic phone anyday

- battery - I worked the damn thing for a day and a half, with wi-fi and 3G and some games, calls, sms, etc., and the battery was still at around 13% when I plugged in the charger

- Safari - I can't believe how fast this browser loads pages. Compared to Chrome and other browsers on Android, it's freakin' amazing

 

Cons:

- HUGE icons for this screen size. I've read that when you jailbreak the iphone, you can resize the damn icons, but why on earth didn't Apple give us the choice by default?!

- ugly address book. Compared to Android, it's like Notepad vs. Word. It's just a list of names. That's it. I know it's all eye-candy, but I would've loved to have it like on Android, with big photos and stuff. I got an app from AppStore, Contacts+, that looks just like I want, but it should've been on default...

- no custom ringtones - this is obvious, and I did managed to get some ringtones on it using iTools, but come on...why restrict this????

- can't change the default web browser - at least I don't know how

- UGLY sms app - again, a list with names. And again, I'm comparing with Android.

- no shortcuts for direct dial/direct sms - I know there's a way, a complicated one, to add contact shortcuts to home screen, but I'll never bother

 

 

The bold text in the quote are available in jailbroken apps.

 

SMS: you can try BiteSMS app in jailbroken apps.

 

If you are on 7.1.1, you wait awhile before it gets released. 

[astropheed Veteran]

My Wife has a iPhone 5s and an iPad Air and I can say with some confidence that they are freak'n awesome. I still love my Note 3 but I love her Apple Products for what they are.

 

Would I make an iPhone my main phone? Nope. But only because I'm used to Android and can do more with it. It's appropriate for me.

Does this mean Android is better? Nope. Just better for me. I recommend iPhone to the people I think it'd benefit.

 

Apple make good products that work very well. I don't like their cult culture or overpriced desktops but they really nailed iOS and it shows. Kudos to them for it.

[DarkyDan]

I'm currently using a Lumia 1020, but previous to that I had a Galaxy Nexus which I loved.. and an iPhone 4.

 

I do love to bash apple, and in my opinion when it wasn't jailbroken my iPhone 4 was almost unstomachable but it was a nice piece of hardware. 

 

I actually ended up running a custom WP7 launcher on my iPhone for the majority of the year I owned it.  The selection, and quality of apps on iPhone still seems to be a cut above Android. 

 

Although all things considered my next phone will be a Windows Phone again.  Hoping Sony release a Z2 successor style Windows phone.

[JJ_]

I feel your pain with your list of cons, namely the huge icons. It can be easily overcome through jailbreak tweaks. Same with custom ringtones. Shame that Apple restricts or makes it cumbersome to change such basic features. Here's my home screen/folder view (sorry for huge images, posting from my phone)

Tweak names are

Five Icon Dock

Five-Column SpringBoard

FolderEnhancer

[TDT]

Tweak names are

Five Icon Dock

Five-Column SpringBoard

FolderEnhancer

Thanks, but I have to wait for a 7.1.1 jailbreak first :)

[TDT]

I have a problem with itunes, I can't figure out the problem. I used itools to make some custom ringtones, everything was fine, I can set them on the phone, etc. Also, they show up in itunes in the Tones section. However, if I hit sync to transfer something to the phone, the damn app deletes those ringtones! But it's weird, if I go back to itools to add them again, they show up on the phone with the same name but with incremental numbers (for example, I added Ringtone, itunes deleted it, I added it again and it shows up as Ringtone (1). And this goes on, since I'm on my 4th restoration...) so I guess they're still there.

 

What's going on? :(

[+E.Worm Jimmy Subscriber¹]

I feel your pain with your list of cons, namely the huge icons. It can be easily overcome through jailbreak tweaks. Same with custom ringtones. Shame that Apple restricts or makes it cumbersome to change such basic features. Here's my home screen/folder view (sorry for huge images, posting from my phone)

 

 

I am sorry, but this is just so ugly looking to me.   i dont like their flat icons much, and overlapping them makes it look terrible IMHO.

 

The third row from the top makes me want to break stuff

(i guess it is the OCD part of my personality... but it just awful to overlap the text like that!   Calculatori Tunes, WTF!!!)

Everything is misaligned...

[TAZMINATOR]

 

The third row from the top makes me want to break stuff

 

Once the jailbreak is available, you can rename the app titles so you wouldn't worry about the long app titles anymore.

[+E.Worm Jimmy Subscriber¹]

Once the jailbreak is available, you can rename the app titles so you wouldn't worry about the long app titles anymore.

 

i assume you can also resize the icons, so the mess that is the 5th row (above) does not happen :)  

the first two green icons are coupling, creating a weird mutated double icon. instead of lining up on top of each other. ehhhh...   LOL

[tsupersonic]

I feel your pain with your list of cons, namely the huge icons. It can be easily overcome through jailbreak tweaks. Same with custom ringtones. Shame that Apple restricts or makes it cumbersome to change such basic features. Here's my home screen/folder view (sorry for huge images, posting from my phone)

Tweak names are

Five Icon Dock

Five-Column SpringBoard

FolderEnhancer

Wow that is just hideous - overlapping mess of cluttered & cramped icons.. I like Android and the endless possibilities when it comes to tweaking, but I'll just stick with the stock iPhone

[TAZMINATOR]

i assume you can also resize the icons, so the mess that is the 5th row (above) does not happen :)  

the first two green icons are coupling, creating a weird mutated double icon. instead of lining up on top of each other. ehhhh...   LOL

 

yes icons can be resizable as long as you have it jailbroken.

[+E.Worm Jimmy Subscriber¹]

yes icons can be resizable as long as you have it jailbroken.

 

so there is no excuse for the mess i am seen in a picture above/

i used to be iphone user all the way up till 4. instead of 4s i upgrade to HTC One X, and used android all the way up to now.

 

I am willing to go back though, if the new one is amazing....    or I might finally try MS os (last one was Windows Mobile)

 

as I am looking to try something new...       though i like the latest android a lot, and i am not sure if it is worth the hastle to switch again.

[TAZMINATOR]

so there is no excuse for the mess i am seen in a picture above/

i used to be iphone user all the way up till 4. instead of 4s i upgrade to HTC One X, and used android all the way up to now.

 

I am willing to go back though, if the new one is amazing....    or I might finally try MS os (last one was Windows Mobile)

 

as I am looking to try something new...       though i like the latest android a lot, and i am not sure if it is worth the hastle to switch again.

 

I understand.  There is no jailbreak available for 7.1.1 yet. Unless you use old version of iOS 7  or older.

 

I am with Android since iPhone 3G that I left Apple for Android phones.  I have iPad for home usages such as media box, home automation, etc.

 

Hopefully the guys will make jailbreak for iOS 8 in the Fall. If not, I may leave Apple for good unless they open the doors to us which allow us to customize or tweak.

[JJ_]

I have preferred the 5x4 icon layout since 5.1.1 and a row of app titles overlapping by a character or 2 isn't really the end of the world seeing as I don't really need to read the title to know what an app is.

It beats the dull stock layout and helps keep my stuff on 2 screens, with most my apps on the second screen sorted into folders.

Looking on the brighter side, I'm grateful that my 2.5 year old phone is as snazzy as ever and doesn't fall over on the latest os

[+E.Worm Jimmy Subscriber¹]

I have preferred the 5x4 icon layout since 5.1.1 and a row of app titles overlapping by a character or 2 isn't really the end of the world seeing as I don't really need to read the title to know what an app is.

It beats the dull stock layout and helps keep my stuff on 2 screens, with most my apps on the second screen sorted into folders.

Looking on the brighter side, I'm grateful that my 2.5 year old phone is as snazzy as ever and doesn't fall over on the latest os

 

 

Hey, if it works for you and does not rub you in the wrong way just by looking at it, then more power to you.     

 

Maybe I am all too obsessed with aesthetics, that I am willing to sacrifice functionality for it, otherwise it bugs me immensely.    Cant help it.      Some people are just like that...

[TDT]

Guys, as much as I like your UI discussion, 1. I can't do anything about it, since there's no jailbreak for 7.1.1 yet, and 2. I was hoping that someone would have an answer for my issue :)

 

Edit: Since I posted a new reply, I'll post some more feedback about my experience so far: Again, I really don't want to sound biased, but I cannot believe how well this device behaves, given its configuration and age. UI, games, apps, whatever, everything is fluid and consistent. As it SHOULD be.

 

I hate the keyboard, I think I mentioned that before, I would LOVE to use SwiftKey like I did on Android, but... Anyway, it seems that iOS 8 will finally allow word prediction & stuff, so it's getting closer to that experience. 

 

Another thing that I hate (a hardware thing) is the lack of some kind of LED key on this phone. Or something that can alert you about a missed notification if you missed it the first time when the damn thing was ringing and vibrating. I know I can set the flash on the back to "alert" me, but that's stupid, who keeps his phone face down?!?

 

That's about it. Apple's idiotic lockdown aside, it's a great phone and, at this point, even without the jailbreak, I wouldn't go back to Android.

[Dinggus]

Sprintomize 2 is what you want, you won't need the five-icon dock and five-column springboard. It eliminates the need of a lot tweaks, if you want to do anything to the springboard, that is the tweak you want.

 

Yes, I see you need to wait for a jailbreak.

[Sikh]

Guys, as much as I like your UI discussion, 1. I can't do anything about it, since there's no jailbreak for 7.1.1 yet, and 2. I was hoping that someone would have an answer for my issue :)

Edit: Since I posted a new reply, I'll post some more feedback about my experience so far: Again, I really don't want to sound biased, but I cannot believe how well this device behaves, given its configuration and age. UI, games, apps, whatever, everything is fluid and consistent. As it SHOULD be.

I hate the keyboard, I think I mentioned that before, I would LOVE to use SwiftKey like I did on Android, but... Anyway, it seems that iOS 8 will finally allow word prediction & stuff, so it's getting closer to that experience.

Another thing that I hate (a hardware thing) is the lack of some kind of LED key on this phone. Or something that can alert you about a missed notification if you missed it the first time when the damn thing was ringing and vibrating. I know I can set the flash on the back to "alert" me, but that's stupid, who keeps his phone face down?!?

That's about it. Apple's idiotic lockdown aside, it's a great phone and, at this point, even without the jailbreak, I wouldn't go back to Android.

Honestly I think its a better idea to lay your phone screen down. If anything happens to fall on your phone damage will be surpressed by the back. Had a buddy who's s3 took a coffee cup to the back. Dented / cracked the cover and dented the battery. Screen was perfect. Imagine if screen was facing up?

As far as the led, that's one thing I love about android phones is the notification led. But with nabu and smart watches coming out I can't see myself give a damn about a notification led anymore

[Sikh]

I have a problem with itunes, I can't figure out the problem. I used itools to make some custom ringtones, everything was fine, I can set them on the phone, etc. Also, they show up in itunes in the Tones section. However, if I hit sync to transfer something to the phone, the damn app deletes those ringtones! But it's weird, if I go back to itools to add them again, they show up on the phone with the same name but with incremental numbers (for example, I added Ringtone, itunes deleted it, I added it again and it shows up as Ringtone (1). And this goes on, since I'm on my 4th restoration...) so I guess they're still there.

What's going on? :(

What I've always done is manually managed my content so I can sync from multiple computers. In iTunes I "snip" a song into 30 seconds or 5-10 (notification), then I create a copy of the song like that. I believe its right click convert to aac or something. I'll have to get back to you because I haven't done it in awhile. Don't swap ringtones once I find the right ones. Anyway then I go to the new songs clipped version location and change from aac/mp3 to m4r. Drag and drop onto my iPhone and bam it syncs and works.

You can also use myxer to search for a version of the ringtone you want. If its not there upload what you want to make a ringtone, crop it on the time bar that pops up and then download the "iPhone version(m4r)" of the file you uploaded. Boom done.

[Shadrack]

with big photos and stuff. I got an app from AppStore, Contacts+, that looks just like I want, but it should've been on default...

- no custom ringtones - this is obvious, and I did managed to get some ringtones on it using iTools, but come on...why restrict this????

 

Custom ringtones are trivial with iOS and have been supported for a long time now.  In fact, iOS has supported custom Vibration alerts for a at least a couple versions now (iOS 5 I believe).  Does Android support that yet?  I like that I have custom vibration alert for when my Wife txts me.

 

I'm not sure what your gripe is if you found a 3rd party solution regarding contacts.  If it was as you describe, so many people would be complaining that it isn't minimalistic enough.  Apple tends to go for the "mean" and not the outliers.  Outliers are covered by 3rd parties, and it sounds like you found your outlier solution.

[TAZMINATOR]

Custom ringtones are trivial with iOS and have been supported for a long time now.  In fact, iOS has supported custom Vibration alerts for a at least a couple versions now (iOS 5 I believe).  Does Android support that yet?  I like that I have custom vibration alert for when my Wife txts me.

 

I'm not sure what your gripe is if you found a 3rd party solution regarding contacts.  If it was as you describe, so many people would be complaining that it isn't minimalistic enough.  Apple tends to go for the "mean" and not the outliers.  Outliers are covered by 3rd parties, and it sounds like you found your outlier solution.

 

Yes, You have the custom vibration patterns or presets on Android.  And you can choose the pattern for each contact so you will know who is calling or texting...

 

I have set it on my android phone... not a problem at all.

 

Even you can choose custom ringtone for each contact.

[Shadrack]

Yes, You have the custom vibration patterns or presets on Android.  And you can choose the pattern for each contact so you will know who is calling or texting...

 

I have set it on my android phone... not a problem at all.

 

Even you can choose custom ringtone for each contact.

 

I figured Android would have those features by now ;).

[richardsim7]

Your issue with the contacts should be addressed in iOS 8 with the favourites/recents appearing alongside the multi-tasking switcher (double press home button)