Hi - hopefully this will be an interesting read for you. This is my experience going from the Nokia 920 to the iPhone 6. I did this because I had to buy a phone when I switched from AT&T to T-Mobile and be eligible for the ETF reimbursement. If I had to buy a phone, why not something I can easily resell? So iPhone it was - something I'm familiar to using anyways and the lesser evil compared to Google. As of this morning, I'm back to my 920 and have transferred the Band pairing back to it as well (I can finally use Cortana, text replies and Pimp my Band again!).
A little about my history in smart devices. I've owned Casio telememo watches, and their BOSS, Sharp Wizards a plenty, an HP palm computer, Apple Newton 100/120/130/2000/2100 (still have the 130 & 2100), Apple iPhone 4/6, a Psion 3 for a brief stint, Palm Pilot 3 and a V, Samsung Galaxy S3 and Windows devices from CE 1.0 all the way to what we know now today as Windows Phone 8.1 (iPaqs, palm tops, Casio something with color, HP Jornada and a bunch I forget). Like many of you, I f***ing love tiny computers, but I'll save for another thread. The bottom line is, I used a bunch of stuff and that's more than most iPhone users had.
So I had to use this iPhone 6 for at least 3 complete billing cycles to request for an unlock. I'm a bit past that, but adding phones and such on the account is a headache on TMO if you've ever dealt with them on getting an accurate bill. Here's are the pros and cons I jotted down on OneNote:
Pros
Cons
There's more, but I kind of stopped making a list after a few weeks. The biggest thing about being an iPhone user was really the accessibility of any apps and even then there are really only a couple apps I used during that time that wasn't on WP - Amazon Music, Scotttrade, Safeway, Target Cartwheel, SquareSpace Metrics, Bit.ly and Simpsons Tapped Out. The camera features were fun, especially Slow Mo and I made some really great videos set to music with the iMovie app. There was a sense of belonging, or just being "normal" whenever I whipped out the iPhone to use and that was unsettling, yet comforting. I was part of this herd of sheep and I don't mean that completely in an insulting way. Friends were completely surprised to even see me using an iPhone - "wow, you got the gold 128GB? why not the 6+? so you finally gave up on Windows Phone?" My answers to that was I'm using it until I get it unlocked, then I'll be swapping back and forth or resell, the 6+ is ridiculously large and no WP is still the better designed OS. Being able to buy any accessory easily was nice and I even picked up a Pebble Steel. Every other company supports the iPhone which is what makes the platform so attractive - you can accessorize!
So you got accessories and the apps. If Windows Phone had that, things would be different. It's not that iOS is better, it's just that it gets 3rd party support and isn't associated with the company Microsoft which many people hate for their history or hate because bloggers and friends hate. Besides, iOS was a hit with the masses because it was a smartphone that everyone was able to use. The UI is so easy that even this here 2yo can use it - it's so simple! So simple that simpletons can use it, so let's not change things too much or make it any more complicated - the mass of users won't be able to figure it out. That's how it's successful out of the gate. Poke this, poke that - one thing at a time, even my grandma can use it! That's fine, the market needs that. I just find it funny when my iPhone using friends claim it to be the best phone/OS when they haven't used anything else and/or would be lost using anything else.
Now that I'm back on the 920, I find myself using my phone less. That's a good thing and something both iPhone and Android users may not get. I use it less because when I pick it up and go to the homescreen I immediately see the things that matters most to me: Weather in my home city/work city, phone/text notifications, next appointment, Facebook notification, unread email 3 different accounts and my list of stocks (My Stocks Portfolio app). Within a few seconds, I'm up to date and I put the phone back into my holster. I even get to see my photo tile flip randomly through my photos which sometimes brings a smile to my face when I see a particular nice picture that brings me back to that place and time. On my iPhone, I'd tap at least 6 times over the course of a minute just to see what's going on. There's no random photos as well, not even a Bing picture of the day on the lockscreen. I will also be able to enjoy how WP handles incoming texts when I'm in the car with Bluetooth - being able to have it read to me and replying. On my iPhone, you'd have to press the home button and ask Siri to read it to you - it was cumbersome enough that I only ever did it once. Finally, I'm so glad to be able to use the Windows Central app again. I actually wished there was an iOS app for it.
Well, I've walked several miles in the iOS shoes - lived in it and now I'm back to WP. It feels nice. I don't think I will miss the iPhone much, although I plan to swap back and forth. I'll see how it goes. Perhaps something terrible will happen and I suddenly long for it, to which I'll post some long rant here. I hope that doesn't happen and I hope those flagship WP10 phones comes soon. I hope you enjoyed wasting the last few minutes reading this post.
PS: You guys already do it, but spread the word an get people to try out WP. I had a friend that was finally moving on from a feature phone to a smartphone. Despite overwhelming iPhone users telling him to get an iPhone, he took my suggestion and bought an unlocked 920. The man loves it, but I did have to show him how to use it effectively. It didn't take too long as he used Windows 8 on the laptop, but damn that guy loves his 920 and especially the camera. I guess that's a +1 for WP.
A little about my history in smart devices. I've owned Casio telememo watches, and their BOSS, Sharp Wizards a plenty, an HP palm computer, Apple Newton 100/120/130/2000/2100 (still have the 130 & 2100), Apple iPhone 4/6, a Psion 3 for a brief stint, Palm Pilot 3 and a V, Samsung Galaxy S3 and Windows devices from CE 1.0 all the way to what we know now today as Windows Phone 8.1 (iPaqs, palm tops, Casio something with color, HP Jornada and a bunch I forget). Like many of you, I f***ing love tiny computers, but I'll save for another thread. The bottom line is, I used a bunch of stuff and that's more than most iPhone users had.
So I had to use this iPhone 6 for at least 3 complete billing cycles to request for an unlock. I'm a bit past that, but adding phones and such on the account is a headache on TMO if you've ever dealt with them on getting an accurate bill. Here's are the pros and cons I jotted down on OneNote:
Pros
- Any app is available
- Crap loads of accessories available and compatibility
- Touch ID (one of the reasons why I like iP6)
- Voice dictation in many areas parts of the OS
- Better MS app support (groan)
- Better podcast playback control
- Better podcast curating
- Built in timer, stopwatch, flashlight, compass
- Baked in FaceTime
- Built in burst photo
- Slow Mo video (another reason why I like iP6 and I made some great videos)
- iMovie app (it's an app, but WP really needs something like this)
- Easy voice texting
Cons
- Fiddly OS (so inefficient)
- Buggy OS (unstable Bluetooth especially when paired with audio + Band/Pebble
- Unintelligent Siri - such as incoming texts via BT
- Crap autocorrect
- Damn you autocorrecting properly spelled words I typed
- Camera settings set to Dummy Mode
- No dedicated camera button and camera placement is terrible
- Unglanceable information - poke this, see this, poke that, see that; poke, poke, poke
- Settings for apps are not usually accessible in app
- Lockscreen customization is terrible
- No alphabetized apps list
- No Back button combined with non-uniform UI makes for lots of thumbing around especially top left(!)
- iMessage doesn't always play nice with non iMessage phones
- Unread email count for all emails ever - not just since last check
There's more, but I kind of stopped making a list after a few weeks. The biggest thing about being an iPhone user was really the accessibility of any apps and even then there are really only a couple apps I used during that time that wasn't on WP - Amazon Music, Scotttrade, Safeway, Target Cartwheel, SquareSpace Metrics, Bit.ly and Simpsons Tapped Out. The camera features were fun, especially Slow Mo and I made some really great videos set to music with the iMovie app. There was a sense of belonging, or just being "normal" whenever I whipped out the iPhone to use and that was unsettling, yet comforting. I was part of this herd of sheep and I don't mean that completely in an insulting way. Friends were completely surprised to even see me using an iPhone - "wow, you got the gold 128GB? why not the 6+? so you finally gave up on Windows Phone?" My answers to that was I'm using it until I get it unlocked, then I'll be swapping back and forth or resell, the 6+ is ridiculously large and no WP is still the better designed OS. Being able to buy any accessory easily was nice and I even picked up a Pebble Steel. Every other company supports the iPhone which is what makes the platform so attractive - you can accessorize!
So you got accessories and the apps. If Windows Phone had that, things would be different. It's not that iOS is better, it's just that it gets 3rd party support and isn't associated with the company Microsoft which many people hate for their history or hate because bloggers and friends hate. Besides, iOS was a hit with the masses because it was a smartphone that everyone was able to use. The UI is so easy that even this here 2yo can use it - it's so simple! So simple that simpletons can use it, so let's not change things too much or make it any more complicated - the mass of users won't be able to figure it out. That's how it's successful out of the gate. Poke this, poke that - one thing at a time, even my grandma can use it! That's fine, the market needs that. I just find it funny when my iPhone using friends claim it to be the best phone/OS when they haven't used anything else and/or would be lost using anything else.
Now that I'm back on the 920, I find myself using my phone less. That's a good thing and something both iPhone and Android users may not get. I use it less because when I pick it up and go to the homescreen I immediately see the things that matters most to me: Weather in my home city/work city, phone/text notifications, next appointment, Facebook notification, unread email 3 different accounts and my list of stocks (My Stocks Portfolio app). Within a few seconds, I'm up to date and I put the phone back into my holster. I even get to see my photo tile flip randomly through my photos which sometimes brings a smile to my face when I see a particular nice picture that brings me back to that place and time. On my iPhone, I'd tap at least 6 times over the course of a minute just to see what's going on. There's no random photos as well, not even a Bing picture of the day on the lockscreen. I will also be able to enjoy how WP handles incoming texts when I'm in the car with Bluetooth - being able to have it read to me and replying. On my iPhone, you'd have to press the home button and ask Siri to read it to you - it was cumbersome enough that I only ever did it once. Finally, I'm so glad to be able to use the Windows Central app again. I actually wished there was an iOS app for it.
Well, I've walked several miles in the iOS shoes - lived in it and now I'm back to WP. It feels nice. I don't think I will miss the iPhone much, although I plan to swap back and forth. I'll see how it goes. Perhaps something terrible will happen and I suddenly long for it, to which I'll post some long rant here. I hope that doesn't happen and I hope those flagship WP10 phones comes soon. I hope you enjoyed wasting the last few minutes reading this post.
PS: You guys already do it, but spread the word an get people to try out WP. I had a friend that was finally moving on from a feature phone to a smartphone. Despite overwhelming iPhone users telling him to get an iPhone, he took my suggestion and bought an unlocked 920. The man loves it, but I did have to show him how to use it effectively. It didn't take too long as he used Windows 8 on the laptop, but damn that guy loves his 920 and especially the camera. I guess that's a +1 for WP.
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