The Switch

My brother bought a Mac when he went to university. Some sort of Performa model, if memory serves me correctly. I would have been about 16 at the time and still using our home PC and playing Doom II. I went to university in 1995, discovered Windows 95, broke it, fixed it and then a friend taught me about hardware and I first built a PC from component parts. It was part of the fun: build the PC, set-up Windows, tweak it to be just how you want it, break it, re-install it.

I bought my first Mac around 2000, probably running Mac OS9. Curiously, I loved it. No tweaking set-up, no building PCs, just a computer that worked. You could get on with stuff. But there were problems. By the time OS X replaced OS 9, the latter had become tediously buggy. An application crashes and the whole OS crashes — seriously? OS X was new and exciting and also missing a heap of functionality — why can’t I save inline attachments from emails?

I built another Windows PC after that, in part because I couldn’t afford another Mac. Windows 2000 was also a lot better than Mac OS9. I returned to the Mac family, buying a Macbook Pro, probably around 2007 and I’ve not switched back. Nothing that I’ve seen in newer versions of Windows has compelled me to think switching would be a good idea.

My first iPhone was the 3G — I think I switched from a Nokia N95 — probably in 2008. If you cannot imagine what that experience was like, it was pretty amazing. The N95 was packed with functionality, it’s just that none of it really worked. The 3G had less stuff but what it did have it used infinitely better. The N95 seemed brilliant until you compared it to an iPhone and then it suddenly seemed like something from the dark ages.

Since then I’ve had an iPhone 4, 5 and 6. I very briefly switched to a Nexus 5 between the iPhone 5 and 6, in part so I could try out Android and in part so I could sell my 5 before the release of the 6 devalued it. I used the Nexus 5 enough to make a quick judgement that I preferred the iPhone, but no more.

I recently sold my iPhone 6 in preparation for the release of the 7 and I bought a Nexus 6. I’ve been using the Nexus 6 for just over a week now.

I’m not sure that I can fairly compare a phone that I’ve used for just over a week to a phone I’ve been using for the last 5 years, but I’m going to try.

When I tried out the Nexus 5 I made a conscious decision to divorce myself from the Apple ecosystem. I made sure my eBooks were not using iBooks, I switched my photo storage to Flickr, I switched my music to Spotify. Even as an Apple fanboy, I prefer that set-up. Of course, there is a limit to what you can do — I have bought apps in the App Store and I can only get value from those on an iPhone, as the same is true of the Play Store and Android.

I guess the first thing to note is that if you are wedded to the Apple ecosystem — photos, books, music — well, you are wedded to Apple. If you switch, you’ll experience a lot of pain. Having mitigated the pain, switching from the iPhone 6 to the Nexus 6 was easy.

I’m still learning about Android and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to give an unbiased view, but I can offer a few thoughts.

Android is way more flexible than iOS, it is by far and away the biggest difference between the two systems. iOS controls so much of the user experience in comparison to Android. This has pros and cons. iOS requires no customisation from the user. Android can also work without any customisation from the user, but it sure as hell improves if you *do* customise it.

There is another thing — Android is not necessarily Android. The Nexus 6 runs the stock version of Android. This is the original version of Android as Google intended. It’s also relatively bare. You want app badges? Not so fast… you going to need an app for that. Samsung have customised Android to the way they think it should be, giving a different perspective on the default Android user experience. I’ve not used Samsung devices, so I cannot comment on how good they are, but they get very good reviews.

A few things I have noted about the Nexus 6 in comparison to the iPhone 6:

• The Nexus 6 gets hot when charging, the iPhone doesn’t
• There is a big difference in charging speed when charging the Nexus 6 over USB vs. plugged into a wall socket — I have not noticed this with the iPhone
• There seems to be a bigger difference between low power use and high power use on the Nexus 6 compared to the iPhone — but I should point out that both drain the battery pretty fast under sustained use
• iOS on the iPhone feels faster than Android on the Nexus 6. It could be the apps, it could be the device, it could be the OS. I don’t know, iOS just seems like a more consistent, fast experience. I should stress that iOS has its moments when it is slow, but it just doesn’t seem that frequent.
• It seems as though the hardware and software on the iPhone work together better that those of the Nexus 6 — the heat, the speed, the power usage all hint at this
• Many apps are very, very similar across iOS and Android
• Some apps are more gesture based on iOS, such as Facebook, versus Android in which it is button (tap) based
• You really can customise a lot about Android and tailor it to how you want it
• Android’s notification system is a lot more sophisticated than that of iOS — but you do have to configure it to get the best out of it

Coming from iOS, I really like app badges. On Android, there a multitude of ways of doing that. I installed the paid-for version of the Nova launcher, which then gives you even more control over home screens. I changed the grid to a 5 x 6 grid to get even more apps on my home screen. And now I have app badges.

I know there are better Android devices than the Nexus 6 and part of the reason I bought it was because I wanted to try out a bigger device before opting for an iPhone 7 plus. The Nexus 6 is perhaps a little too big for me, but I do like it.

Getting app badges made a big difference to my usage — I realise that it is one of the main ways that I know whether something is going on inside an app.

If you use an iPhone, Apple expect you to use the apps that come with the device and then supplement it with additional apps. If you use an Android device, I think Google expect you to replace some of the apps.

I have read articles titled “Best camera app for iOS”. Its a bit confusing — best what? What’s wrong with the built in camera app? Why would you change the default camera app? If you use Android, it becomes clear why you would change it. Also, the Nexus 6 camera is poor — again, I know other Android devices have better cameras.

Google don’t presume to have all the best apps — though some of their apps are awesome: gmail, maps, etc. If you want to change for something else, you are free and almost encouraged to do so. Apple do presume to make the best apps and even if they don’t, they will tell you they do. Google maps? You mean Apple maps, right?

Before I started using the Nexus 6, I knew that iOS and Android were both awesome. From a technology perspective, I think we are lucky to have such a competitive battle between Apple and Google.

If I was forced to stick with Android, I could happily use it. But I am not sure whether Android appeals to my desire to tweak and changes things or whether it is meeting a real need. Do the customisations that I can make to Android make me more productive? I’m not sure they do.

I’ve been lucky that my iPhone has not been bricked by one of the rogue Apple software updates. When I got my Nexus 6, it would not install the Android May patches. I had to scour the internet and then enable debugging and reinstall the OS using the Android ADB application on my Mac — not a process for the non-computer literate.

I use almost all the same apps between iOS and Android: Spotify, Skype, Flickr, Slack, Trello, BBC News/Sport, Evernote, Facebook, Myfitnesspal, Strava, 1password, Pocket, Google maps, Audible, Guardian, Youtube, eBay and Lovefilm are probably the most prevalent. On iOS I use Safari, on Android I use Chrome. On iOS I use mail, on Android I use Gmail. All are very similar across Android and iOS — there are some differences and I have a few gripes, but I think that is just because I am used to things being a certain way.

The Nexus 6 is not as good as the iPhone 6, but there are better Android devices than the Nexus 6. I think I am back to where I started — Android and iOS are both awesome operating systems. They work in slightly different ways, iOS requiring little effort, but offering little control. Android requires more effort to get the best out of it, but offers more control.

I think my perfect device would have the customisation capability of Android with the default quality of iOS, the hardware quality of the iPhone (or maybe Samsung?), the hardware and software integration of the iPhone and a battery that can last a week. And app badges.

If you buy an iPhone, it will be awesome. If you buy an Android device, it might be awesome, but it might just be very good, depending on which one you pick. If you buy an Android device, you should probably buy it based on the hardware specs — and not using the adage that more is better. Better is better; more is just more. Trust the reviews. You want the best battery life, the best hardware/software integration and the best hardware. The software will be awesome. And even if it isn’t, you can customise it to make it awesome.