In 2012, when I bought my first smartphone (the Google Nexus 4), I posed a very loaded question. “When is Apple going to make a real phone?” I wondered. The iPhone 4s was current at the time and had a pathetic 3.5" screen. It also lacked haptic feedback, and an NFC payment system, both of which the Nexus 4 had, as well as a 4.7" inch screen. '
The answer, almost as if Apple was listening, ended up being 2015. With the release of the iPhone 6, Apple brought a 4.7" screen and NFC payment, and with the iPhone 6s, haptic feedback, was available at last.
Coincidentally, I haven’t really enjoyed an Android phone since my Nexus 4. My subsequent Nexus 5 and HTC One M8 Google Play Edition were fine and got the job done, but never really captured my attention in the way the Nexus 4 did. Even worse, the main Android manufacturers seem to be pushing phablets left and right, and my usual complaints with Android come into play as well (generally involving updates and crapware). I, therefore, decided it was time to give iOS a try.
The first thing I noticed was the buying experience. I chose to buy my space grey iPhone 6s directly from Apple, which got me free one-day shipping. The same service from my carrier would have cost an extra $25 on top of the $800 (after tax) price tag. Apple even offered to set up a voice chat session to show me around my new device. I didn’t need it, but I certainly appreciate the gesture. Needless to say I was overjoyed.
When I got my iPhone the next day, I was very pleased with the build quality and overall feel of the device. The phone’s curved glass screen is an incredible change from the usual bump or sheer cliff I’m used to when working around the edges of the phone. I was also reminded of a question I’ve asked many times; why is the iPhone the only ~$600 phone that comes with a pair of earbuds?
The included earbuds, or “Ear Pods” as Apple calls them, sound much better than I expected them, and to the contrary of many a disparaging comment about them, I sometimes use the Ear Pods instead of my Sennheiser HD 598s (mainly for the reduced bulk).
This post is about iOS though. iOS is certainly different. As opposed to Android’s wild-west approach to apps, iOS was built on “walled garden” principles. Not only in the way the App Store’s draconian Review Guidelines narrow the range of apps available on iOS, but in the way apps have sole dominion over their data. The general way to get information from one app to another is to share the data using the action menu. When this isn’t possible, the act of pulling data ( such as sending a photo using Hangouts for iOS ) instead of pushing data ( e.g. sending a photo from the Photos app using Hangouts ) feels incredibly out of place in iOS.
The real benefits come from the narrow hardware base. iOS runs on iDevices from Apple, and even then only on a certain range of generations. Because the hardware and software originates from the same company, apps can be written in iOS’s native Objective-C and compiled for individual devices, rather than the Java byte code compiled at install time by the Android RunTime (or the previous JIT execution done by the Dalvik JVM). This paves the way for low-level refinements and optimizations. I may be exaggerating the benefit, but it does exist.
What cannot be exaggerated is the ridiculousness of the update process in the Android ecosystem. With the exception of Nexus and GPe devices, The process generally starts with Google writing an update and passing it along to OEMs. The OEMs take their sweet time porting their buggy custom interfaces to the new update, then pass it along to the carriers. The carriers take their sweet time porting their various bloatware to the new update, and finally the update gets passed along to the end users. This process takes months on average.
Even the Nexus devices, which once were a bastion of carrier independence, have faltered in their resistance to carrier bloat. The Galaxy Nexus was famously preloaded with Verizon bloatware, and the Nexus 6 automatically loaded AT&T software at setup time if an AT&T SIM was installed. By contrast, when you buy an unlocked iPhone you get an unlocked iPhone. And as for the iPad, even my iPad Mini 4 bought directly from my carrier came with an Apple SIM. Updates to iOS come directly from Apple with only the delay of staging, and there’s no need to worry about OEM or carrier crapware sneaking in.
Well, assuming you don’t mind the default apps. Most of the default apps I find incredibly useful, and those less useful apps, Apple tucked neatly inside a Misc folder. I can see how some might find it annoying that Apple preloads so much, so to each his own, but I rather like my phone to be usable out of the box without searching for and loading a plethora of apps for reminders, notes, calendaring, e-mail, etc.
In general, I’d say I’m every bit as impressed by my first iPhone as my first smartphone. Where many see restrictions, I see security, and I simply cannot beat the shipping and service. One day down the road I might find I’ve made a mistake in switching to iOS, but until then I’ll enjoy the calm and stick with this iPhone 6s.