Sunday, November 30, 2014
Saturday, November 29, 2014
Friday, November 28, 2014
Thursday, November 27, 2014
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Monday, November 24, 2014
Friday, November 21, 2014
Thursday, November 20, 2014
Sunday, February 02, 2014
My experience switching from iPhone to Android... and back again. Pt 4
And so ends our mini-series on stepping out of the boat into the water and seeing if I can stand. Today I sold my Note 2 on Kijiji for $20 less than I purchased it for. (Plus another -30 for the SD Card I had to buy to up the Memory) I've gotten myself a previously enjoyed iPhone 5 with 64 gb of space that's spend it's whole life in a LifeProof case and it cost me a cool $500.
So why the switchback - I just found the Note 2 couldn't hold up enough solid conversations with enough other devices.
1. Home entertainment - I have an Apple T.V. an Onkyo home theatre system, and a Projector. My iPhone controls the Apple T.V. - It streams to it, it plays music through it, it allows me to connect to all the media on my Mac, and it's all quite seamless. The Onkyo has an app that allows me to adjust the woofer, the volume, the dolby surround type, and all kinds of other little bits and bobs. If I've got my phone on my, I can control it all. Heck, even my xbox has an app that lets me scroll through and enjoy content all from that tiny tiny little iPhone Screen. (Yes... I miss the Note 2 screen badly!) Now could the Note have done all of those things. Yes, I believe that it can, if I purchased mostly Samsung gear, I could screen share, and send media and all those things. But the apple t.v. plugs into everything and anything and that means I can get the best t.v. Not just the one that matches my phone. (Until Apple comes out with their t.v. then well whatever.
2. Compatibility - I complained in my last entry that the Note 2 didn't connect to any of the vehicles that I drive for work, which is pretty much a different one daily, through USB. IT would charge, very slowly, but would not stream my music. Which meant that I had to use Bluetooth. Now it didn't happen in every car but I also found that the bluetooth from the Note was a little spotty in some vehicles cutting in and out. I'd never had that problem with my iPhone, cars are all designed with the i-products in mind, and so for anyone that's not using a cassette adapter the iPhone is a better choice as media hub for your car.
3. Accessories and Aftermarket- Find me 10 Note 2 Docks and I will be amazed! Say what you will about lightning connectors and that 30-pin apple proprietary connector, but I did not see a lot of companies that were producing docks or accessories for my Note. The Onkyo I mentioned above came with an iPhone docking station... no mini usb in sight. (even if there were it wouldn't do anything as I plugged it in... and it didn't know what it was) Why is this? Financial Smarts. If you create something that works with the iPhone 5 it will work with the 5c, the 5s, the iPad mini, the iPad Air, the iPad 4, and so on and so forth. Design something for the Note 2 and it will work with.... the note 2, and maybe the note 3. Oh wait they changed it by .4 of an inch. ;) Don't get me wrong, I know that Apple changed their dock, and that's a pain. They did it because the old 30 pin was old tech and couldn't keep up, that happens. But if you were designing a product to be used, wouldn't you want it to be usable by as many products as possible? That's why you design for an Apple product.
4. Hardware/Software integration - I got the update for my Note 2 weeks and weeks after everyone with a Nexus got theirs. Why? Because Samsung makes the hardware, and Google Makes the Software. And the tiny little HuiWei phones and the Galaxies and the Sony's and the Blackberry's (kind of) and the Nexus with all their varied screen sizes, and hardware configurations, and Cameras, and resolutions all have to try and run off of the Android Platform. Now if you know anything about cars you know that you can swap a Corvette engine into pretty much anything. And that makes pretty much anything pretty pimp and pretty cool. But it does not make anything into a vehicle you'd want to drive daily and live with during your commute. I think it's the same with Android, to many variations, to many opinions, and trying to do to many things at once! Apple builds Apple products, writes the Apple software, and controls everything. Does this make them like Skynet? Yes. Does it make everything run very smoothly? Yes . The only time I've seen Apple mess this up is when they made the iPhone 4 upgradeable to iOS7. They shouldn't have done that, they should have left those people in the cold. They might have been sad, but at least they wouldn't now all have iPhone fours that run a bit like molasses due to a very heavy iOS that's trying to run on them. That's why Apple does what it does, it protects you from yourself. ;)
5. I think a lot has to do with who I roll with. Most of the people in my life run iPhone so without iMessage you miss out. I got to share my contact info once with NFC. Was a boss experience, but most Samsung users don't keep it turned on as it kills the battery and it's easier to iMessage someone a picture vs. sending it via NFC. I think if all your friends had Androids and you were the only iPhone guy it would be hard, you'd miss out on things as well. So I think that has to be taken into consideration. Your phone is not an island, it's not about it's hardware or it's capabilities. It's about how well it interacts with the digi-world around it.
So my Opinion? Phone technology is going to go through some crazy changes in the next couple of years. Whether it ends up being Google Glass or this new iWatch Apples apparently got in the works I think that whoever changes the way we look at phones, the way apple did with iPhone, is going to be the company that rules the next little piece of History. But for me, at this point, Apple is still the one who provides the best package. It's not perfect, but it sure works pretty good. ;)
So why the switchback - I just found the Note 2 couldn't hold up enough solid conversations with enough other devices.
1. Home entertainment - I have an Apple T.V. an Onkyo home theatre system, and a Projector. My iPhone controls the Apple T.V. - It streams to it, it plays music through it, it allows me to connect to all the media on my Mac, and it's all quite seamless. The Onkyo has an app that allows me to adjust the woofer, the volume, the dolby surround type, and all kinds of other little bits and bobs. If I've got my phone on my, I can control it all. Heck, even my xbox has an app that lets me scroll through and enjoy content all from that tiny tiny little iPhone Screen. (Yes... I miss the Note 2 screen badly!) Now could the Note have done all of those things. Yes, I believe that it can, if I purchased mostly Samsung gear, I could screen share, and send media and all those things. But the apple t.v. plugs into everything and anything and that means I can get the best t.v. Not just the one that matches my phone. (Until Apple comes out with their t.v. then well whatever.
2. Compatibility - I complained in my last entry that the Note 2 didn't connect to any of the vehicles that I drive for work, which is pretty much a different one daily, through USB. IT would charge, very slowly, but would not stream my music. Which meant that I had to use Bluetooth. Now it didn't happen in every car but I also found that the bluetooth from the Note was a little spotty in some vehicles cutting in and out. I'd never had that problem with my iPhone, cars are all designed with the i-products in mind, and so for anyone that's not using a cassette adapter the iPhone is a better choice as media hub for your car.
3. Accessories and Aftermarket- Find me 10 Note 2 Docks and I will be amazed! Say what you will about lightning connectors and that 30-pin apple proprietary connector, but I did not see a lot of companies that were producing docks or accessories for my Note. The Onkyo I mentioned above came with an iPhone docking station... no mini usb in sight. (even if there were it wouldn't do anything as I plugged it in... and it didn't know what it was) Why is this? Financial Smarts. If you create something that works with the iPhone 5 it will work with the 5c, the 5s, the iPad mini, the iPad Air, the iPad 4, and so on and so forth. Design something for the Note 2 and it will work with.... the note 2, and maybe the note 3. Oh wait they changed it by .4 of an inch. ;) Don't get me wrong, I know that Apple changed their dock, and that's a pain. They did it because the old 30 pin was old tech and couldn't keep up, that happens. But if you were designing a product to be used, wouldn't you want it to be usable by as many products as possible? That's why you design for an Apple product.
4. Hardware/Software integration - I got the update for my Note 2 weeks and weeks after everyone with a Nexus got theirs. Why? Because Samsung makes the hardware, and Google Makes the Software. And the tiny little HuiWei phones and the Galaxies and the Sony's and the Blackberry's (kind of) and the Nexus with all their varied screen sizes, and hardware configurations, and Cameras, and resolutions all have to try and run off of the Android Platform. Now if you know anything about cars you know that you can swap a Corvette engine into pretty much anything. And that makes pretty much anything pretty pimp and pretty cool. But it does not make anything into a vehicle you'd want to drive daily and live with during your commute. I think it's the same with Android, to many variations, to many opinions, and trying to do to many things at once! Apple builds Apple products, writes the Apple software, and controls everything. Does this make them like Skynet? Yes. Does it make everything run very smoothly? Yes . The only time I've seen Apple mess this up is when they made the iPhone 4 upgradeable to iOS7. They shouldn't have done that, they should have left those people in the cold. They might have been sad, but at least they wouldn't now all have iPhone fours that run a bit like molasses due to a very heavy iOS that's trying to run on them. That's why Apple does what it does, it protects you from yourself. ;)
5. I think a lot has to do with who I roll with. Most of the people in my life run iPhone so without iMessage you miss out. I got to share my contact info once with NFC. Was a boss experience, but most Samsung users don't keep it turned on as it kills the battery and it's easier to iMessage someone a picture vs. sending it via NFC. I think if all your friends had Androids and you were the only iPhone guy it would be hard, you'd miss out on things as well. So I think that has to be taken into consideration. Your phone is not an island, it's not about it's hardware or it's capabilities. It's about how well it interacts with the digi-world around it.
So my Opinion? Phone technology is going to go through some crazy changes in the next couple of years. Whether it ends up being Google Glass or this new iWatch Apples apparently got in the works I think that whoever changes the way we look at phones, the way apple did with iPhone, is going to be the company that rules the next little piece of History. But for me, at this point, Apple is still the one who provides the best package. It's not perfect, but it sure works pretty good. ;)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)