iPhone 7 performance v. Android phones

[IVB]

I use cell towers for geofencing.
 
For leaving I have Tasker set to 200m away. You can set as low as 30m, but you can't paint the exact dead center of your house so I just picked 200m cuz it sounded pretty. Works well enough, when I get 7ish houses away (walking) it realizes I'm gone. I could also use WiFi Near and have it check for when I'm no longer connected, but I have a Ubiquiti AP in the front of my house and that thing travels *damn* far. GPS is actually more precise.  
 
For my profiles thats acceptable. All I do is alter volume levels, turn WiFi off, tell CQC I'm gone so if nobody else is at home then it does stuff. I don't need more precise than that as I have the NFC trigger on my carmount so thats only used while walking away.
 
For coming home I set it to a 2 kilometer radius of my house that fires upon coming home in the evenings. If its winter and nobody else is at home it turns up the HVAC (or set Nest=Home), turn on lights if its dark, blanking on what else.  
 
I found a link that shows how to get Waze traffic estimates, I was going to integrate that into coming home if I could also see how to integrate gcalendar. IE, announce "Hi Vivek. Traffic to the soccer field right now is <x> minutes, your game tonight is at <y> pm."  Alas the Waze traffic estimates are wildly inaccurate compared to google maps which is always right, despite being the same company. Hence I abandoned that effort.

 

[damage]

 
apple has its own little hardware issue brewing and as time passes (and warranties expire) it appears to be growing

 

[drvnbysound]

The lack of SD Card kills it for me.  I also like the removable battery.  I'm keeping my Note 4 until I have no other choice. 
 
It's still very fast.  I use the stylus often to mark up photos.  I still use the 3.5mm jack on flights.  Plus Tasker.  Plus the IR emitter.  Plus the control you get with Android which you don't get with iOS.  Plus the software development environment is free and runs on different platforms.  Plus it connects with all Bluetooth devices - not just ones that the manufacturer says are OK.  Plus the interfaces are not proprietary.
 
I would certainly be willing to switch back to an iPhone if they would make something better than what I can get elsewhere. 
 
Apple's stuff works very well, but you are locked into their system and are from then on subject to their choices.  You also need to use accessories which pay royalties back to Apple (in case you didn't throw enough money at them for buying their phone).
 
Of course there is this:

 
When I switched from Android to iOS 4-ish years ago, I had concerns about the SD card and battery as well... but my wife was not happy with her Android phone and wanted to switch. I'm the type of person who needs to use the device/technology to be able to assist and provide help, so I switched too knowing that I'd need to provide her "tech support" from time to time. I've yet to max out the memory on either of the (2) iPhones I've owned; granted I never get the smallest memory model. My first one was a 32GB, and I have a 64GB model now. 
 
I thought the non-removable battery would be an issue, but I've never owned a second battery from any phone I've used and never changed one out on previous phones either. There have been a handful of times, typically when I've traveled, that I've needed a re-charge before the end of the day... but Delta puts charging stations at gates now, and most of the flights I've been on have them on the back of the seat as well.
 
I don't use many peripherals so I can't comment much on that... I've only paired my phone (BT) with my aftermarket radio and some headphones that connected to my snowboard helmet. I have used chargers from Monoprice without issue - they've typically been priced SUBSTANTIALLY less than Apple's chargers, and are what I typically take with when traveling, as I leave the included charger at home, in place.
 
There are certainly apps that don't transfer, and I've just learned to deal and accept. iOS doesn't have Tasker or a comparable that I'm aware of. It also doesn't have good WiFi analyzer apps. 
 
YMMV

 

[pvrfan]

apple has its own little hardware issue brewing and as time passes (and warranties expire) it appears to be growing

 
Defects happen.  One of the reasons I like Apple is because they have been good about fixing problems.  My iPhone 5 was affected by the battery problem.  Even though it was out of warranty, it was fixed at no charge at a nearby Apple Store in about an hour.  
 
https://www.apple.com/support/iphone5-battery/
 
If there is a "touch disease" defect, I expect they will get similar treatment.  
 
(Not like the crap I got from Blackberry/RIM over my son's phone.  "Oh, the screen is dead after 8 months?  Tough.")
 
Craig

 

[IVB]

I've only ever had Nexus, although my M$ phones had SD card slots. Not an issue for me either as I get the large memory ones, although when I went to India I did get an micro-USB adapter thingey so I could use an external SD card loaded with tons of movies. Upside is that we could switch that to the nexus tablets I owned, so wife/kids could watch movies by themselves. 

 

[damage]

If there is a "touch disease" defect, I expect they will get similar treatment.  

 
for now they are getting this treatment
 
"With the vast majority of iPhone 6 Pluses out of warranty at this point, if you take an iPhone 6 Plus with touchscreen problems to the Apple Store, Apple will charge between $100 and $329 to replace the phone, according to McCune’s survey of customers, which also jives with Apple Insider’s reporting and my own."
 
"The problem with refurbished iPhone 6 Pluses is that Apple is replacing one phone with an inherent design flaw with another phone that both has that same design flaw and has old parts from a phone that was broken and has been repaired."

 

[pvrfan]

for now they are getting this treatment
 
...

 
Yup.  In other repair extension programs, if Apple acknowledges that the flaw is their fault, they reimbursed folks who were previously charged for the repair.
 
On the other hand, the AppleInsider article says this is related to bending or flexing the phone.  "The increased incidence of flexing of the case because of the larger surface area may be exacerbating the problem over time, and causing more solder joints to break."   That amount to mistreating the phone--it takes a pretty significant amount of force to flex an iPhone 6/6+.  I'm not going to predict Apple's decision on this.  They are the ones that can assess how often the problem is actually occurring and decide what, if anything, they are going to do about it.
 
I will note that my 20 yo son has had a 6 since shortly after launch.  He is far from easy on his phone (or anything else).  That phone works fine.
 
Craig
(When I wore an expensive wrist watch, I took it off anytime I was doing something that might damage it.  If I owned a clown shoe phone, I would not put it in my back pocket and sit on it.  That's common sense, isn't it?)

 

[damage]

That amount to mistreating the phone--it takes a pretty significant amount of force to flex an iPhone 6/6+. 

 
maybe it does need a lot of force to see a pronounced bend ala bendgate, but what about the stresses from everyday use?
 
"The phone flexes ever-so-slightly thousands of times over the course of normal usage: as you pull it into and out of your pocket, or sit on it, or drop it. Eventually, all those-micro flexes add up, and the solder that holds the chips to the logic board comes loose, leading to a condition that the repair industry is calling “touch disease.”"
 
apple blamed an antenna design problem on users holding the phone wrong. will touch disease be blamed on users who put their phones in their pockets or frequently swap their otterbox cases?

 

[pvrfan]

maybe it does need a lot of force to see a pronounced bend ala bendgate, but what about the stresses from everyday use?  ...

In the scheme of things, I think phones that explode and burn people are a little higher up the scale of problems worth worrying about:
 
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/09/construction-worker-sues-samsung-after-suffering-burns-from-exploding-phone/
 
All manufacturers have their share of complaints.  Sticking with Samsung:
 

class action lawsuit on behalf of people who purchased Samsung Galaxy water-resistant phones that allegedly failed water immersion tests.

http://www.girardgibbs.com/samsung-waterproof-phones-lawsuit/
 
Etc.  Apple has had the top customer satisfaction scores for years.  They would not be able to keep those if mass numbers of people were getting screwed over.  
 
Craig

 

[damage]

In the scheme of things, I think phones that explode and burn people are a little higher up the scale of problems worth worrying about:

 
and samsung is addressing it. apple isn't addressing the problem that's at least 6 months old and growing.  but that's ok, i'm sure your mechanical engineering expertise and thorough knowledge of bga solder joints, and not your cult-like worship of apple, is what led to your touch disease failure theory "That amount to mistreating the phone"

 

[pvrfan]

 
and samsung is addressing it. 

The Wall Street Journal says Samsung has botched the Note 7 recall:
 
http://www.wsj.com/articles/samsungs-management-of-recall-wounds-companys-image-1473928872
 
Within 12 days of launching the phone (Aug 19 to 31), there were enough reports of problems with the phone that sales were banned in Canada on September 1st [1].  Samsung, however, continued selling the phones in the US until September 9.  Even afterwards, they didn't properly coordinate with CPSC:
 

 
In announcing the recall, however, experts say, the South Korean company neglected to first coordinate with safety authorities in the U.S. According to U.S. law, the CPSC must be notified within 24 hours after a safety risk has been identified, and recall announcements are generally then carried out jointly. ...
 
Since the phone’s launch last month, Samsung has received 92 reports of the batteries overheating in the U.S., including 26 reports of burns and 55 reports of property damage, according to the CPSC.
Mr. Kaye said other Samsung phones are now being investigated for overheating issues, but he provided few details.

 
[1] http://www.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-note-7-recall
 
So Samsung is hardly a model of the perfect corporate citizen.  And that's before talking about the phones that weren't nearly as waterproof as advertised.
 

 
apple isn't addressing the problem that's at least 6 months old and growing.  but that's ok, i'm sure your mechanical engineering expertise and thorough knowledge of bga solder joints, and not your cult-like worship of apple, is what led to your touch disease failure theory "That amount to mistreating the phone"

 
So, you're arguing that sitting on your phablet is the proper way to care for the device?  Keep in mind that we're talking about a problem that causes a portion of the screen to flicker.  It is quite a stretch to equate this with phones that EXPLODE and CATCH FIRE.
 
But hey, if it makes you feel better to hate on Apple, carry on.
 
Craig

 

[IVB]

Samsung is a crap company, Touchbiz hurts my eyes. If only there was a different company that made Android Smartphones so you had a choice of which android manufacturer you trusted. I don't know why the Android OS manufacturer doesn't promote this. They could come up with their own android phone so other manufacturers had a reference point and come up with their own flavor of android. Customers could then switch between different manufacturers of Android, based on who had the best hardware quality and a user experience that they liked without worrying about having to buy all new apps or completely upend their setups.
 
A reference point like that could be the center of the Android universe where all various manufacturers would come together. A nexus of cellphones, as it were.
 
But alas Android is just like Apple, and from this thread it sounds like we're locked into Samsung. Too bad.

 

[LarrylLix]

Pick your evil. I already picked mine.

 

[dementeddigital]

When I switched from Android to iOS 4-ish years ago, I had concerns about the SD card and battery as well... but my wife was not happy with her Android phone and wanted to switch. I'm the type of person who needs to use the device/technology to be able to assist and provide help, so I switched too knowing that I'd need to provide her "tech support" from time to time. I've yet to max out the memory on either of the (2) iPhones I've owned; granted I never get the smallest memory model. My first one was a 32GB, and I have a 64GB model now. 
 
I thought the non-removable battery would be an issue, but I've never owned a second battery from any phone I've used and never changed one out on previous phones either. There have been a handful of times, typically when I've traveled, that I've needed a re-charge before the end of the day... but Delta puts charging stations at gates now, and most of the flights I've been on have them on the back of the seat as well.

 
Amusingly, I switched from iOS to Android for the same reason.
 
I never thought much about the removable battery, but after almost 2 years of use, the battery started to misbehave.  When it hit 30% it wouldn't seem to power the phone.  I ordered a replacement, and it's better than it was when it was new.  I suspect that this is one reason why Samsung killed the removable battery - it extends the useful life of the phone.

 

[LarrylLix]

My granddaughter uses an iPad 1 and the original battery still works to this day.
 
I don't know how they have made a battery to last all these years, especially with a 5 year old killing it dead every usage but it still functions.
 
I am not an iSheep and hate the "Total control....End to end "" crap, from Apple but that is impressive.