Coming from Android, I have exactly the same response when moving to iOS. 'Why is there no back button? Why is all the functionality shoehorned into one button? Oh, you have to press the button for certain amounts of time for different features? Where's the discoverability?".
You seem to be complaining much more about unfamiliarity with workflow than real issues.
In my experience, people are drawn to Android don't care much about user experience and instead want larger screens and tons of features.
Did you honestly just say that a larger screen doesn't have anything to do with the user experience?
An initial report by Steve Kovach of BusinessInsider proclaimed "Samsung Made $1.43 Billion More In Profit Than Apple Last Quarter, " before the site realized that it was comparing Apple's after tax net income to Samsung Electronics pre-tax operational income.
The site subsequently corrected its story with a new, less racy headline "How Samsung's Profit Compares To Apple's
http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/07/27/samsung-has-not-de...
An earlier version of this said Samsung made more profit last quarter, but it was comparing Samsung's operating profit to Apple's. We apologize for the error.
http://www.businessinsider.com/samsung-made-more-profit-than...
OOPS! :)
Most functions, from scrolling and animations to simple things like changing the focus from a text box on the web page to the URL bar of the browser, had noticeable lag.
So I just tried this now and saw no lag. It's not that I don't believe you, but I'm surprised that the Nexus 4 can demonstrate good UI response but the S4 can't (even with all the junk that Samsung puts on top of Android)
I don't see lag as an issue but I agree that there are lots of UI inconsistencies still in Android that make it not as easy to use as an iPhone.
On the other hand - good god is inter-app sharing/integration so useful and efficient. Apple's kinda dropping the ball on that one.
In my experience, people are drawn to Android don't care much about user experience and instead want larger screens and tons of features
Or maybe they, you know, what to actually make their phone do stuff for them beyond what the manufacturer thought they may require.
There's a lot of good stuff on both sides. Dismissing one side condescendingly like that doesn't move the discussion forward.
1. Competition is good! Don't act like there should be only one good option, or you might end up with just that.
2. I really don't like apple as a company, but the iphone seems to be pretty good. It's form factor is a bit better than my S3, and it's noticeably smoother. On the other hand, I drag folders of music onto my S3 and it just fucking plays them. I don't have to sync anything with my computer (and I don't), I get detailed metrics on what my apps are doing (which I find very useful) and I can tear out my default launcher and put something better in (which I have done). Oh and I can change the battery by popping the back off!
3. Actually good, useful smart phones are still a pretty damn new thing. Yeah technically they've been around for a while, but anybody who used a Palm Treo knows what I'm talking about. That means that all these "iphone is so much faster!" or "S4's battery life sucks!" is just related to the fact that we haven't figured it out yet. It takes time to really polish complicated tech.
As happy as I am to see Android thriving I'd prefer to see somebody other than Samsung on top.
Now, for some reason, Apple got the volumes mixed up so that it was IMPOSSIBLE to get any sound (except 6.) without plugging in a 30 pin connector and increasing the volume.
It took me MONTHS to work this out. All of the Apple "experts" I knew swore that this was not possible until I showed them. Even Apple said there was no bug and that it was faulty hardware, which I knew it wasn't.
The problem is that I keep on having similar issues with IOS. It's just "too clever" for its own good. Settings that you need are just not there (eg. accessing WIFI settings with a single click or slide).
There was also the time that iTunes REFUSED to copy music to my iPhone. If I used a 3rd party tool, songs would be copied and could play, but as soon as I used iTunes, it knew the new songs were "corrupted", and put the broken versions of the music on my phone. Thankfully, this bug only lasted a week.
I also find my iPhone 4s laggy. As an example, if I load a web page in the background, and try to scroll the current web page, the phone locks up for about 1000 milliseconds (ie. a VERY long time). It really infuriates me.
As for the Android lag, I am not sure what people are referring to. the Google hardware has not been a problem that I have seen - ever.
I think the best summary I can think of is that IOS is for people that don't want choice (eg. no FLAC, no 1080p MKV, no volume settings, you can't copy music files directly - you need iTunes, etc). Android has more that you need to know about, but at least you CAN find it if you want to.
I have a love/hate with IOS. But, when IOS pisses me off, it REALLY pisses me off. I can't say the same for Android.
You can see that I like choice. I also agree with others that I'd rather see Apple do well than Samsung. Samsung have a highly unethical history. If it weren't for Apple, Samsung would still be churning out rubbish handsets.
It's one of the worst user experiences I come across - very few UI's are so actively unfriendly to discoverability
Oh. My. God.
The difference in user experience is astronomical. I work in the tech industry and I train users on how to use my company's software, and I could not for the life of me wrap my mind around some of the most basic aspects of the phone. Most functions, from scrolling and animations to simple things like changing the focus from a text box on the web page to the URL bar of the browser, had noticeable lag. Sometimes the lag was so atrocious that I could not be sure if my taps worked. Occasionally I would get impatient and tap again, and it would register two taps simultaneously and treat it as a double-tap! You are absolutely right that it felt like using a regular computer - and old and slow one. I couldn't deal with it.
At one point I was checking my work email and had to access a voicemail that arrived as an attachment. I clicked it, and instead of playing the voicemail right away (which the iPhone does), the S4 downloaded it as a file. Okay, fine, I get it, you want to pretend you're a computer. But where the hell did it go? Is there a separate browser area for downloaded items like in Chrome? Is there a desktop, or some kind of folder? And if you're pretending to be a computer, am I going to need special software to be able to open this file? Are you really going to make me open another tab and Google "how to find downloaded files on Android"?!? WHY ARE YOU MAKING ME THINK? WHY ARE SIMPLE THINGS NOT OBVIOUS LIKE THEY ARE ON IOS?
In my experience, people are drawn to Android don't care much about user experience and instead want larger screens and tons of features. Personally, I view my smartphone the way I view my car: I want one that is easy to drive, responsive and won't lag for ~2 seconds every time I do something.