30 Days Later: From iPhone 5 to Android

Photo Credit: geeksect.com
My interest in Apple products is innate. My dad teaches electronics and computer technology at Indiana State University, and so I literally grew up on campus, surrounded by dozens of computers and servers in his office. Each one was a Macintosh, and as I got older I watched the development of Apple computers change over time. Why am I taking you on this historical road trip through my childhood? It’s necessary to understand why I’ve been hooked on Apple products for my entire life. While Microsoft was present and I was certainly aware and used to it, it was not my preference, and when it came to making my own decisions on purchasing laptops and phones as an adult, Apple was a no brainer.
My first iPhone was a 3GS. Later I would get the 4 (in which I stayed home from work on the day FedEx was scheduled to drop them off), and then the 5. For four years, all I knew was iPhone. So why switch? With a phone being the most important device I own, why would I want to learn to use something that is completely different?
Reasons for switching:
1. My boyfriend replaced his iPhone 5 twice due to how his toggle button quit working, which is essential to turning off the screen on the phone. He could use an accessibility feature to band-aid this problem, but when you pay so much for a phone, you want it to work they way it did when you took it out of the box. Also, being out of warranty made a future replacement a $200.00 purchase we weren’t interested in.
2. The iPhone 5 became limiting. More on this when I discuss the differences below, but the iPhone originally felt out-of-the-box perfect, right? It was set up for everything I needed, but the more I used it, the more I realize my desire to customize the experience.
3. Boredom. Yes, I was flat out bored with iOS. The iOS 7 release was cool, but it wasn’t ground breaking.
4. Battery life was going downhill, fast. With social media a full time job, I use my phone a lot. I’d end up at 20% or less battery each day from regular use, and would charge multiple times if out and about.
Pros of switching to Android
Apps – First I’ll say that I never bought a ton of apps for my iPhone 5. I paid for Tweetbot to manage multiple Twitter accounts and a few games, but that was it. Many people warned me that switching from iOS to Android meant that I couldn’t keep my iOS purchased apps. Well, duh, but that wasn’t a problem for me. Instead, Android enlightened me to their wide range of apps that can take over stock applications such as messaging, contacts, settings, etc. iOS had some of those, but not many. I enjoyed customizing my phone through various third party apps. There is a downside to this as those apps may not be supported or updated frequently, but I’ll take that chance.
Ergonomics – Huge. It. Is. Huge. The entire body of the iPhone 5 can fit inside the screen of my LG G2. Getting used to holding this phone differently has been a small challenge, and buttons on the back instead of the side are also a new adjustment. Other than that, it really isn’t much different. My iPhone 5 was cradled in a giant Otterbox Defender case, a heavy, bulky protector to keep me from paying $$$ to fix a shattered phone (I dropped it, a lot). The LG G2 does have Otterbox cases available, but the phone itself feels stronger and capable of handling a fall better than the iPhone 5. That may be just my opinion, but I had the iPhone 4 and it shattered after a small fall… onto carpet. Call me paranoid.
Micro USB – Love your iPhone lightening cable? Well, I hope you enjoy carrying around cables with only one purpose. While I don’t have too many devices that connect via Micro USB, my Kindle does, and the cords I use for my phone will work with it as well. Micro USB cables are also much cheaper than buying a new lightening cables.
Battery Life – The LG G2 battery life is simply stunning. I cannot believe how it keeps up with me and leaves me at 50% after a long day of use.
Cons of switching to Android
Bluetooth – My iPhone 5 paired with the bluetooth in my 2014 Subaru perfectly. Once it was paired, it didn’t matter if I shut the car off, went to work, and got back in 8 hours later – it would start playing music from Spotify as soon as I turned the car on. This is not the case with my LG G2. I have to go into my settings and ask the phone to pair with my car each time. Sometimes I have to click it two or three times to get it to pair, and it takes about 10 seconds to pair. Not a huge problem (certainly better than plugging the phone in via aux cable each time I get in and out of the car) but it is not as seamless as I hoped it would be. I’ve tried a few apps that are supposed to make Bluetooth connections stronger, but nothing has fixed the problem just yet. Suggestions are welcome!
So much customization, so little time – The thought of customizing my phone? Super cool. Actually doing the research, downloading the right apps and implementing them? Takes precious time I don’t have. When asking my Facebook friends about my desire to switch, I received one great piece of advice to not try and learn about the whole phone at once. Take small pieces of it and digest it accordingly. Apps like Android Central and Drippler have helped me find apps and learn why people do certain things to their phone that my previous iPhone 5 self was not aware of.
iMessage – HUGE problem. I turned off iMessage on all of my devices prior to switching to Android. But several of my friends with iPhones and iMessage can’t text my Android phone. They’ve tried deleting me from their contacts and reading me as a mobile phone and not iPhone, and it still doesn’t work. Some friends have been able to make it through this iMessage wall of Hell, and some haven’t figured it out yet. Others have just turned iMessage off on their phone completely. That’s not fair. They shouldn’t have to do something because I switched phones. From what I can tell, this is a problem for many and has not been fixed yet.
Camera – My iPhone 5 camera is superior to the LG G2. The LG G2 is 13 MP and the iPhone 5 is 8, but that’s not the problem. The iPhone 5 camera is more responsive. If I try to take a picture of my dog in motion, the iPhone 5 will snap it clearer and faster than the LG G2, which struggles to catch up. The VSCO Camera app is pretty cool and creates a clearer, more responsive picture, but it’s not quite the same.
Final thoughts
Do I love the phone? Yes, I do. I love reading Kindle books on it, checking email, viewing photos and its overall general use? Yes. Do I still experience a desire to have iOS features and capabilities? Yes, of course. For being only 30 days in, I think I’m doing pretty good. I look forward to writing a follow-up article 60 or 90 days to share what I experience moving forward. If you use an Android phone, I’d love to hear about your favorite apps and why you chose Android over iPhone in the comments below!
great review sara! start looking to rooting and installing custom roms now 🙂
I am a big android user. I tried apple products but never quite liked them. It is totally a preference thing for me. I had a iPad and thought perhaps I wasn’t a tablet user, then I got my android tablet and I fell in love and use a tablet every day. My favorite app for productivity is Evernote. I love snapseed and photo grid in use with Instagram. Google Now is pretty sweet (but freaks me out all the time with how much it “knows” before I even ask!). If you take a lot of photos for social media and have the budget, I also adore the Galaxy Camera. My S2 had an amazing camera and then I switched to a droid and so I got the camera for my social media picks and love it. Now I have a Note 3 and love the camera, so I use it a little less but it is still my go-to point and shoot.
Nice read. Glad to see you made the jump to the (not so) Dark Side! I have worked in mobile for the past three or four years and both have advantages but one of the big ones for android is the whole idea of going outside of the constraints apple puts on their phones. Now try going back to that small screen 😀
Sara, Did your imessage problem ever get resolved? I switched from iphone to droid about 3 weeks ago and I’m having a tough time. I have spent hours on the phone with Apple support and the have assured me that my number is no longer on the imessage servers. They have explained that my friend’s phones have cached my number as an imessage number and it could take 30-45 days for each of their phones to update and recognize I’m no longer an imessage user.
Can you share whether it ended up working for all of your friends or not?
Hey Scott – Yes, I have FINALLY been able to receive and send text messages to my iPhone buddies. It did take a long time for it to happen, though. I had to ask each of them to delete me as a contact, restart their phone, re-add me as a brand new contact, and even then for my poor gal Lindsey it didn’t work. It may have been that 30-45 day time frame as she is now able to text me. We have finally set our group chat up again!
Thanks for the quick response Sara!
At least this gives me some hope, I’ll continue to hold out then.