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[Marc_C]

I replaced my battery this week because on my phone, 1 year old, it wasn't holding a charge anymore. In fact, I bought two, with a sled charger for a spare battery, so that when I'm in the middle of nowhere I can have a backup. Can't do that with an iPhone.

This gives me 3 full charges:
http://www.amazon.com/Jackery-Bar-External-Battery-Charger/dp/B00AANMVNQ
And if I'm really in the middle of nowhere, my phone is off and stored somewhere.

I do, and have a 128 Gb card with over 16k songs on it. I spend enough time out of service that cloud storage really isn't an option.

Like I said, different users, different usage scenarios. I don't listen to music on my phone. I also don't store any media content in the cloud.

They're the same price for current technology instead of two-year-old technology. That makes it a premium price tag.

You keep claiming 2 year old technology - yet they are virtually identical to the Android devices now. Does that mean Androids are also 2 year old technology?

How is the UI backwards?

- Instead of app settings in the app where they should be, you have to open a separate settings app. Stupid.

The app specific settings are indeed in the apps. The iOS settings app controls how apps interact with the OS and hardware, so instead of going into each app to set whether it uses location services, I can do it all from one screen, for but one example.

- Really, why can't the keyboard display lower case characters in normal mode and capital characters when the caps lock is on?

It does, as of iOS 8. Yes, Apple really missed on that one. It should have been there on day 1.

- Folder creation is ridiculously counter-intuitive. You're the UX expert, so why should I have to break out a manual to figure these things out?

There are really two issues here: one specific feature and the more general ease of learning vs ease of use. Regarding the folder creation - I'll agree with the obscure method that is nearly impossible to discover on your own*, but do it once and it's phenomenally easy. Arguably dropping one app atop another and having the OS automatically create the folder confuses much less than having to create the folder first and then add stuff to it. One way is much more user-centered/task-centered and the other is based on how the database works. There have been thousands of papers proving the former is far preferable than the latter from the user perspective.

Regarding the need for a manual (or a trivial Google query), the decision a vendor faces is not "should everything be walk up easy to use" but "what features are so much less frequently used that we can safely *not* expend a lot of effort to make them instantly usable". The fact is most users don't create folders nor do they see the need to. Nested folders and tree structures in Windows and other OSes still continue to confuse a surprisingly (for us tech geeks) high number of users. I've created a total of 3 folders on my iPhone in the 1.5 years I've had it - and find the drill-down navigation model mildly annoying when I want to get at an app. Oh, I have only 2.7 screens of apps on my phone, so a flat nav structure is actually preferable.

Face it - you're a user who loves to tinker and futz with technology and customize and tweak and monkey with the OS. Newer technology is important so you get that extra 7% of CPU performance and 20 additional pixels of screen resolution. For you, Android is probably a better choice. For those of us who just want a utility device to work with a minimum of fuss, right out of the box......

 

[Admin]

Way too much to argue over / copy and paste / quote / edit from a phone! We will argue over dinner tonight instead. ;-)

And they are not virtually identical technologies. Take a look at screen resolution and quality to begin with, and move from there.

 

[socal]

What android phone do you use? I gave up when my only option on Verizon was a Samsung. The touch wiz skin is terrible, so many stupid changes. I like stock android a lot but nexus wasn't an option last year besides the Nexus 6 which is just too big. Oh and none of the stock android phones come with sd slots or removable batteries. Otherwise, the screen on the iPhone is as good or better than anything, at this point they're all really good anyway. I'll admit the nexus 5x looks interesting but it's definitely not on par performance wise with any of the iPhones or higher end android phones.

Here's all the geeky info needed. Again, I had 6 android phones , rooted , unlocked, custom roms, etc. I'm not biased just saying after switching over and with all the new improvements the iPhone is damn good. I really only miss the notifications. But iMessages, FaceTime, shared photo albums more than make up for it since literally everyone I know has now moved to an iPhone.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/9662/ipho ... ry-results

 

[Admin]

I'm on a stock Samsung Galaxy Note 4. It's the first Android phone that I didn't bother to root. I don't mind the TouchWiz interface and I appreciate the extra screen real estate, plus Sammy's Super AMOLED screen is the best in the business, bar none. I'll admit, though, that I'm not taking the Note 5 upgrade as Samsung is moving away from card slots and replaceable batteries. I'm hoping they see some backlash from that.

 

[Marc_C]

...as Samsung is moving away from card slots and replaceable batteries. I'm hoping they see some backlash from that.

I'll go out on a limb and suggest that is the direction the entire industry is moving toward. It's a lot easier and cheaper from a manufacturing standpoint for a device that is rapidly becoming a commodity item.

Here's an interesting read (despite the blatant Android fanboyism):
http://www.androidauthority.com/samsung-galaxy-s6-removable-battery-microsd-why-596631/

Also, it turns out the battery in the Samsung Galaxy S6 can be replaced, but it's not something most people would or should be willing to do at home. It's basically a repair center task for batteries that have failed, not a casual "oops out of power let's swap batteries", seeing that the operation starts with heating the back of the device with a heat gun for 2-3 minutes before disassembling the innards (remove sim card tray, remove motherboard, etc.)
http://www.techtimes.com/articles/4...6-battery-removable-yes-easy-to-remove-no.htm

The aftermarket has reacted as well:
http://www.businessinsider.com/samsung-galaxy-s6-case-micro-sd-slot-2015-7

 

[Admin]

...as Samsung is moving away from card slots and replaceable batteries. I'm hoping they see some backlash from that.

I'll go out on a limb and suggest that is the direction the entire industry is moving toward. It's a lot easier and cheaper from a manufacturing standpoint for a device that is rapidly becoming a commodity item.

I'll go further: it's a blatant way to upsell increased internal storage space at a much higher price point than that of a microSD card, and at a significant margin for both manufacturer and carrier. However, a) that tops out at 64 GB, not enough to satisfy me; and b) that doesn't do me any good anyway, when my preferred carrier (for monthly data cost) doesn't offer anything bigger than 32 GB.

Also, it turns out the battery in the Samsung Galaxy S6 can be replaced, but it's not something most people would or should be willing to do at home. It's basically a repair center task for batteries that have failed, not a casual "oops out of power let's swap batteries"

This week's purchase notwithstanding, my usual reason for swapping batteries is indeed, "oops, out of power, let's swap batteries." Again, doesn't do me any good.

The aftermarket has reacted as well:
http://www.businessinsider.com/samsung-galaxy-s6-case-micro-sd-slot-2015-7

So now you've taken an already large device and made it even larger. No thanks, I prefer mine internal to the existing form factor.

 

[masada]

Yes, the battery should be user - or at least dealer - serviceable/replaceable. But battery technology is hella better now than even just 3 years ago, so it's not really the issue people make it out to be. Chances are someone will upgrade their phone long before the battery stops taking a charge.

do not rush to change the battery
on samsung phones it can be calibrated and it will last a couple of years
*#0228# - battery calibration
https://mobilexfiles.com/phones/samsung ... ret_codes/