That hasn't been true for a while, of course; Apple has made all the deals they needed to be competitive or untouchable on price and performance, and their revolutionary design philosophy has outgrown puberty and started changing the world.
But, of course, the mythos continues.
I just dropped $1800 and change on an iMac, which really doesn't have any more mojo than an equivalent PC.
If I need support, someone will say: "How can I help you?" no matter how inane the question, instead of (Linux) "RTFMNoob" and (Windows): "Google, install driver, visit MSDN, etc.".
The difference (in my mind) is that I didn't buy a personal computer, I bought a Mac. I didn't buy what I needed, I bought what I want.
The funny thing is that's the complete opposite to what Apple retail employees are taught. Sell what the customer needs; nothing more, nothing less
How about (straight off the top of my head)
Better Linux connectivity.
Ability to easily copy files on and off the phone.
Ability to sync podcasts directly on the phone, without having to connect to a computer with iTunes (not used an iPhone for a while, they might have finally fixed this).
Ability to run software Apple doesn't like (emulators).
We haven't really seen the AI yet, I remain to be convinced, and I don't care about the camera.
Also, you mention price point. The iPhone (particularly the 4S) is about the most expensive phone around at the moment. In general of course the most expensive phone with have the fastest processor, that's hardly suprising.
Very few people actually run Linux on their desktops. If you are one of those people, then yes, I can see this being an advantage. Otherwise... not so much.
I'm a Linux guy and when I had an iPhone, I used to just reboot to my Windows partition to sync my phone. I'd do it ~once per week or so (to sync up with the latest podcasts).
> Ability to easily copy files on and off the phone.
To be honest, I have found this to be more problematic on Android. iTunes synced my music/photos/etc and it Just Worked (tm).
On my Android phone, when I rsync my music/photos/etc from my Linux partition to my phone's SD card, it clobbers everything due to the FS being FAT32 (case insensitive). It's a nightmare to keep things in sync and it takes longer.
> Ability to sync podcasts directly on the phone, without having to connect to a computer with iTunes (not used an iPhone for a while, they might have finally fixed this).
Yes, iPhone has this now. It can both sync with your desktop wirelessly and download the latest podcasts via the iTunes app on your phone if you aren't anywhere near your desktop w/ iTunes.
> Ability to run software Apple doesn't like (emulators).
Jailbreak? I mean, ya gotta do that with Android too...
> We haven't really seen the AI yet, I remain to be convinced, and I don't care about the camera.
I'm skeptical as well, but if it works anywhere near as well as advertised, it will be awesome.
Packing more pixels into such a tiny sensor isn't really going to improve the quality of the photos. However, more sensitivity might...
From what I understand, they've done both... so maybe it'll help or maybe it won't.
The HDR photography that iPhone 4 supported was awesome and makes me regret getting a Samsung Galaxy S which, quite frankly, sucks hardcore in every way.
But I'm a Linux guy so I got an Android... won't be making that mistake again :-\
> Also, you mention price point. The iPhone (particularly the 4S) is about the most expensive phone around at the moment. In general of course the most expensive phone with have the fastest processor, that's hardly suprising.
Equivalent Android's aren't typically much (if at all) cheaper, though (if you buy them outright, at least). Of course, the carriers do seem to subsidize Android phones a lot more than iPhones (which is how you can get most Android phones for cheap-cheap with a 2 year contract).
Just this week, I happened to get an iPad at work. Turns out, the only way I can jailbreak it is by a "tethered" jailbreak, which means (as far as I understand) my iPad has to be attached to my computer whenever I reboot it, else it won't work properly.
We also have a 3G iPad 2, and it seems that can't be jailbroken at all at the moment.
So jailbreaking really doesn't seem to be the "magic solution" to the Apple walled garden. Also, note I don't have to jailbreak to run software Google doesn't like, just go to the webpage and download the package, rather than get it through google market. You can also jailbreak for root access, but I've never felt a need.
I will admit, the argument between Android and Apple is slim, but personally I see it mostly as a "one or the other", not "Apple is superior to Android in every way", as the opening poster seemed to claim.
Given iOS's stability (even while jailbroken), the tethering is an annoyance, but certainly not a dealbreaker.
But you forgot, the original post rhetorically questioned why the 'technocrati' pick another phone. There is a disproportional number of technocrati that run Linux on their Desktop perhaps?
You know what they do care about? A nice camera. An easier way of interacting with the phone (Siri).
(written on my macbook)
Ordinary people don't need Linux connectivity, file copying, emulators, they need a Phone which just works.
I really like the Galaxy S 2 and I wish so hard that Android was actually polished to the degree that iOS is. My iPhone bores and I love the screen on the Galaxy S, yet I know I will miss out on OS updates and being able to smoothly rotate the screen. The day android is as polished as iOS is is the day I switch.
[1] I'm not sure if it is actually thinner than the iPhone 4, but it feels thinner, much in the same way the 2nd gen iPod touch was thinner than the previous gen)
Did Galaxy S2 break iPhone 4's sale record?
Are you sure of that? I can't imagine it's true, or there would be a hell of a lot more sales of it than there are...
Whereas with the iPhone, you basically have "the iPhone". So of course sales are consolidated into that one model.
Samsung have just overtaken Apple in total smartphone sales, though they have a few more models than Apple. But if you look at the trajectory (they came from nothing in the last year or so) it's only a matter of time before their flagship outsells Apple's in more countries than it already does.
I look forward to having you in the iOS community for a long, long time then.
You ... and everybody else! That rather undermines your defense of the S2.
Yeah, this has been fixed for about 2 years. Has to be over wifi though because of the 3G download limits (most podcasts are over 20mb).
Doesn't matter. No one uses Linux.
> Ability to easily copy files on and off the phone.
Doesn't matter. Everyone uses email for a file store.
> Ability to sync podcasts directly on the phone, without having to connect to a computer with iTunes (not used an iPhone for a while, they might have finally fixed this).
They fixed this, also, doesn't matter, no one listens to podcasts.
> Ability to run software Apple doesn't like (emulators).
Doesn't matter.
If you want to make an argument that Android is a better purchase option for mass market consumers, you'll need an argument that actually represents the mass market. I can't think of any argument, as Apple alternatives are always better: better media library, better app library, better product lifetime support (both in terms of software updates, product maintenance), better hardware, better (consistent) software, better branding. These are the things that matter to people.
Who wants to do that? The thread parent post said "it is beyond me how anyone can argue that this is not the best smartphone on the market." That is very, very far from arguing which phone is the best option for mass market consumers. For someone running Linux, it is very easy to argue this is not the best smartphone on the market.
Because, just as people complain about irrational "fanboys", there are also irrational "haters". If Android was a huge, old-style brick phone with a pull-out antenna windows CE style interface Apple haters would be talking about how great it is and how much better it is than the 4S.
PS: I chose a Windows Phone. Though, I'd be on an iPhone if Mango (Windows Phone 7.5) wasn't around.
But the underlying issue I have with the iPhone, is the lack of freedom I get with it. I don't want to (and more or less can't) be restricted to iTunes, and feel I shouldn't have to void my warranty to use the device how I see fit.
I guess if you want to do hardware hacking, you'll always be voiding your warranty. I don't see how you'd have to void it to use an iPhone how you see fit.
I run whatever software I want on mine, open source stuff, stuff that's never seen the appstore... and that's without jailbreaking it.
As I understand it, on android, you'd have to jailbreak it.
If the complaint is that apple doesn't allow malware on the AppStore, I think that's a good thing. Its not like Apple only allows software Apple thinks is good on the store. (though I do wish they would be more restrictive in that regard.)
Always I see the claim that android is "open" or the assertion that the iPhone causes a "lack of freedom".... but rarely are there any specifics. This forces me to guess what you're talking about in order to argue a different point. You're now in a position to say that all of my examples were not what you were talking about... which is the rhetorical value of vague complaints.
I'm guessing this is due to a developer certificate? I don't think it's reasonable to expect even power users to jump through all the Xcode hoops (and pay a $99 freedom tax) in order to run unapproved software.
> Its not like Apple only allows software Apple thinks is good on the store.
Curiously enough, if Apple were to allow sideloading, they could get far pickier about what goes in the App Store, which would be a better experience for 99% of customers, and potentially result in more total sales by creating an expectation of quality. There is much less shoddy junk in the Mac App Store for this very reason.
All that said, I've never run into anything I wish I could do that I can't, and so even though I've jailbroken my iDevices 5+ times, I always end up undoing it with the next upgrade.
The windows phone was pretty interesting. It took my partner a couple tries to figure out how to use it (I'd seen demos online so I was more prepared for the UI) but they eventually got it. Still, the UI was broken in some very weird ways-- for instance, going to the datebook app, you could easily scroll from day to day, but what if you wanted to go a year into the future or the past? (The phone was set for last year)... eventually we were able to figure out how to bring up a calendar view that showed months at a time, but tapping on a particular month or day didn't bring you to that particular month or day's agenda! Never did figure that out.
I give Microsoft credit here for trying to come up with something new. I think in a couple years, they will have something very usable, and it certainly is very different and potentially innovative. (Didn't get to use the device long enough to see if it was different for difference sake, or if there was a fundamental UI insight behind the way it worked.)
Then we picked up the HTC. It was pretty eye opening. I did like the animated background, that's cool. The icons are fugly, though. Its like someone who didn't know what they were doing tried to copy an iPhone. The device was really cheap plastic. The touch screen wasn't very reliable, and the apps were ... poor at best. I was surprised at how fiddly everything was... you couldn't just launch an app and immediately know how to use it. On the iPhone (and windows phone it seemed) there are standard controls and paradigms, like the tab bar and swiping left-right. I'm sure android has these features as well, but they aren't really supposed to be features... they're the common commands that Apps should share so that the user spends time comprehending your app and what it means, not trying to figure out how to get to the next page, or whatever.
I don't know, or care, whether this was the "latest" android phone. In fact, replacing an iPhone every 2 years is a much better experience than having to keep up with a marketplace of phones that changes every three months... and given that Apple always delivers a superlative experience, while the android hardware market is competing more on headline features, there's a huge incentive for android makers to put in some feature (like LTE, or a power hungry processor) that undermines a more important, but less exciting capability, like battery life. Trying to keep on top of all that, making sure I'm not getting screwed is more effort than I want to spend when shopping for a phone.... especially when I can just buy the latest iPhone and get the best experience, and know I'm not going to regret my purchase.
Windows Phone 7 has less features than Android (and iOS?), but is way more polished and 'pretty'
I hear complaints like this a lot, then try to replicate them on hardware I have to hand, and shockingly I am unable to do so! It's almost as if these stories are massively embellished versions of real interactions.
For example. Have you actually seen how complex the home button on an iPhone is?
Some might argue that the iOS' "one-way-to-do-things" design guidelines are constraining and limit innovation, but in practice they are very well thought out.
Double clicking it pops up the multitasker.
It isn't that hard to accidentally double-click the home button and get to the other running Apps. This is a natural effect that good UI depends on. Rather than filling the screen with a control for every possible option, you get this "hidden" functionality that users discover by mistake.
Once there, swiping left and right is an obvious thing to do, but even if you don't think about it, you again can do it by mistake.
I found the voice command functionality by mistake when I held the home button down while thinking about what I wanted to do next (And have occasionally accidentally invoked it in this way since.)
Still, one of the things I experienced in best buy was that the buttons at the bottom of the screen were pretty confusing.
The home button is really intuitive in comparison.
1. Phones with the same class of processor have been available for some time now. Tegra 2 is a dual core 1ghz SoC and there are 1.2 and 1.5ghz dual cores from competitors, with a quad core 1.5ghz due from Nvidia within the next few months.
2. The camera may be excellent, but previous phones have applied some bad automatic settings to this, making adjusting of photos result in unnecessary detail loss.
3. iTunes and the App Store I won't argue against, but it's worthy of note now that competitors are approaching Apple with these features.
4. As far as the AI goes, I doubt it will ever see significant widespread adoption. Nobody has yet been able to give me a few good solid examples of use outside of 'play this album' and 'set a reminder for x'. Facetime was supposed to be the be-all and end-all of video chatting. I think I have used it once.
5. The general point about carriers is almost certainly stated by an American. iPhones have been available on many carriers in many countries, and still Android is advancing significantly.
6. You're ignoring the significant downsides to the iOS ecosystem. For example, if you purchase apps, you would be better off with an Android. Why? Because purchasing those apps on an iPhone means that the associated cost of switching to any other platform increases by the value of those apps. That cannot be justified as a 'good thing'.
UNLESS, this is about how you can ONLY buy stuff from Apple's App Store and then I can understand the point being made. But jailbroken iPhone users are such a small percentage (as are rooted Android phone users) so I'm looking at this from the average consumers' perspective.
If they buy 100 apps on their Android device they are then leery about switching to iOS because they lose all those apps and vice-versa.
For example: There's a company running Android apps on iOS now.
Also, what company are you referring to?
1. Checking the weather forecast for a particular day. Just ask something like, "What's the weather tomorrow?" You can give it a specific city, or it will just use your current location. This is generally faster than using a weather site or app for places you haven't already set up a shortcut for.
2. Checking on movie times and availability while on the go. Just ask something like "movies near here" and it shows you what's available.
3. Setting up reminders when I spontaneously think of something while out and about. It's much easier to just say "remind me to water the dog tonight at 7" than to type something up into an e-mail or reminder app.
Ultimately, it didn't get as much use as perhaps it should, for two reasons. One, it's inconvenient to use as a standalone app. You have to unlock the phone, find the app icon, run it, wait for it to get started, press the button to activate voice input, then say what you want. Having it built in to iOS5 on the 4S should eliminate that problem completely. It looks like it's just a single button to go straight to voice mode.
Two, being an app, it doesn't integrate well with the rest of the phone. You can't use it to call people or e-mail them or send them text messages or modify your calendar or.... This limits the functionality greatly. I sometimes find myself using Dragon Dictation to bang out a quick e-mail, but it too is fairly cumbersome. Again, the integration into the system should solve this.
From my previous use, the Siri app was great but ultimately not all that useful, but I think the integrated one could end up being great. Of course, we will have to see how it really works once it ships.
On a point by point basis:
1. Android phones don't have co-processors for image stabilization and quality, for speech recognition, etc. They're using off the shelf parts and don't have the R&D budget to source and integrate the technology Apple has. Further, a couple of Apple's acquisitions were companies that give them an edge in power per watt.
2. Your claim about past iPhones is debatable, but it doesn't address the 4S.
3. I've --and I mean this literally-- heard people saying that competitors were replicating iTunes and it would no longer be a competitive advantage for Apple, since the very year the iTunes store was announced.
4. I think that talking to your phone like this might be a usability issue, we'll see. But nobody was used to touching their phones before Apple did it, and for a couple years after Apple announced the iPhone, people were always saying that phones with keyboards were better.
5. "Significance" is a subjective term, so you can't be wrong there- its significant to you, sure. Both products are quickly eating away at the installed base of feature phones... but it seems android makes sales to segments that just want a feature phone replacement, while the iPhone is making sales into segments where people want a smartphone. This results in iPhone users buying many more apps, using the phone to browse more, etc. Further, there is no successful android equivalent of the iPod touch or the iPad, and thus when looking at the whole market, android isn't doing as well.
6. All platforms have switching costs. Thus your claim here applies to android as well. However, since android users buy fewer apps, its easier for them to switch to the iPhone, than the reverse. The superlative app ecosystem on the iPhone works as a moat, but that effect doesn't help android as much.
I own a Windows Phone because it was very cheap (180 Euros) and it's essentially the same as an IPhone from a functionality and design viewpoint.
It seems your comment is based on a flawed assumption that all these consumer devices should be evaluated in a vacuum where price, app markets, & previous corporate adoption doesn't matter.
iPhones where historically really expensive devices. And price is one of the features of the device just like camera resolution is. So it is a bit like saying "Can't people see that a Lexus is a much better car than a Honda Civic? Why are reviews for a Honda Civic better sometimes than reviews for a Lexus, I don't get it !?"
No. Smartphones are historically really expensive devices. Year before the iPhone was released, I had a Eseries Nokia phone, it was something like 500€ out of carriers (and few carriers had it, Eseries are enterprise/corporate phones), unsubsidized Nseries phones ("comsumer" smartphones, usually with a 10key and more multimedia features instead of the full qwerty keyboard of Eseries) were the same price.
When the original iPhone was released, it was not expensive, it was unsubsidized.
Which made it 'seem' expensive to an average consumer. Yes, they end up spending that money by being locked into a contract for 2 years, but they at least see it as a cheaper option.
Not sure how price qualifies as a feature considering prices may change based on time, geography, carrier choice and other factors.
No matter how you look at it, a Lexus is a better car than a Honda Civic. You, as a customer, may not assign the same value to the actual features as a different customer may is the only difference.
To continue with my stupid exampel, if I am asked to review a Lexus, I will end up reviewing it differently perhaps because I expect more. Heated seats not working well enough -- taking points off. Even in a comparison review some of this bias will leak in.
-Bigger screen
-LTE 4G
-Tons of different ROMs available
-More customization options
-I prefer the Android interface
It all comes down to your needs. The screen size alone takes the iPhone out of consideration for me.
When the technorati (and, to be honest, most bloggers have been supportive of the product) diss this phone, are they actually suggesting someone would be better off with a Android, Blackberry or Windows 7 phone? It's a plain and simple fact that people refuse to accept - people purchase Android because it's available on many different carriers and comes in many different price points. People choose blackberry cause sometimes their work requires it or they want blackberry messenger. And no one chooses Windows phones. With the iPhone now available on more carriers at different price points, the game will continue to change.