iPhone 5 vs Android - Whatever works for you.

Here's a conversation I had with Boris earlier today. Just some thoughts on the new iPhone and Samsung Galaxy S3.  Not comprehensive. Not every point is mentioned but I do hit a few of the ones that matter to me. Feel free to correct me and in general share your thoughts on the topic.


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Boris: what do you think of iphone 5?  do you think i should get it over the galaxy 3?

Boris: i mean after the release of all the info

Dmitriy Markus: idk.  it depends on who you are and ur needs.
Dmitriy Markus: ill tell u why im going to get it. doesn’t mean u should

Boris: ok go

Dmitriy Markus: apple has the most amazing synergy on the market

Dmitriy Markus: between their products

Dmitriy Markus: the ipad, the macbook, and the iphone all work in an ever improving synchronicity. which i absolutely love

Dmitriy Markus: also my apple tv is tits and i love being able to stream to it from a phone

Dmitriy Markus: so that’s 1. Synergy

Dmitriy Markus: 2nd

Dmitriy Markus: the main selling point of the gs3 to me is the openness and customization.

Dmitriy Markus: there are hundreds of menus  and loaders, launchers, themes, skins, widgets, icon packs and mad fucking shit to customize ur phone to fit perfectly for every little need  and want

Dmitriy Markus: i used to be into that. i used to get mad extensions for firefox and chrome and customize every piece of software i own.

Boris: yeah i did too. but i stopped

Dmitriy Markus: nowadays.. i don’t want to do that. i really dont want to do that. I could see why others would, but im just in a different place in my life.

Dmitriy Markus: also, with that customization u open urself up to little issues. Things pile up over time, conflicts arise, crashes, glitches.

Dmitriy Markus: its just going to happen more because the os is open.

Dmitriy Markus: some poeple dont care about that and i dont judge them for it. It’s a cost/benefit.

Dmitriy Markus: id rather have my phone just always work. Which it does.

Boris: the one thing i hated about android is the constant crashing

Boris: the only thing

Dmitriy Markus: u should look into reviews of the gs3, it might crash a lot less. im sure they’re improving

Dmitriy Markus: however.. they’re very open with their apps,  so developers get careless  and leave lots of holes and bugs.

Dmitriy Markus: so ure going to see crashes more than on ios no matter what even if they improve the underlying os

Dmitriy Markus: for me personaly, id rather not have to deal with that

Dmitriy Markus: i hate little glitches. Id rather sacrifice some functionality or customization. Not all people would.

Dmitriy Markus: I hate having to press a button 3 times for it to register.  i really dont want to do that

Dmitriy Markus: on iphone. 99% of the actions I do register with the phone and it responds accordingly, exactly how I thought it would.  thats only going to improve with the new processor  in the iphone5.

Boris: the one thing i hate, i gotta tell you, is when you find a person from the phone book and call them, and then need to make another call 5 hours later, it doesnt open the phone book when you click contacts, but that person entry in the phone book

Dmitriy Markus: on an iphone?

Boris: yeah

Dmitriy Markus: yea. its not a perfect phone. I could list other annoyances and grievances

Dmitriy Markus: there are going to be issues with both

Dmitriy Markus: like I said, its a cost / benefit.  id rather press 'favorites' and have to find the new person i want to call again

Dmitriy Markus: and honestly.. touching ur phone for basic tasks is a waste of time.

Dmitriy Markus: i almost never do it. i press a button on my headphones and say 'call jenny' or 'call mom'

Dmitriy Markus: so i dont even think about that

Dmitriy Markus: with siri its going to be even easier and  the voice recognition is even better

Boris: i should get up on voice recognition

Dmitriy Markus: yea. its great

Dmitriy Markus: its one of the things im most hyped about

Dmitriy Markus: I mean.. gs3 has it too so that’s not a point of contention

Dmitriy Markus: so anyway.. there’s 1. synergy.
2. dont have to customize much and dont feel the need to
3. less crashes due to less freedom for developers

Dmitriy Markus: and there’s an asterisk there

Dmitriy Markus: this DOES NOT mean apps are worse. quite the opposite. apps are usually better on iphones

Dmitriy Markus: developers are forced to be more creative and more careful.  they’re forced to create a better crafted product.

Dmitriy Markus: u see countless apps being released for ios then being ported to android

Dmitriy Markus: but not as much in reverse

Boris: yah

Dmitriy Markus: so this whole 'apple limits their developers'' argument is kind of meaningless. Because if it that was truly a problem, ud see apps suffer

Boris: ok im gonna preorder it today

Dmitriy Markus: wait wait. let me finish

Boris: fiiiiine

Dmitriy Markus: then there are points 4 and 5 which can be seen as one

 Dmitriy Markus: 4 is ergonomics

Dmitriy Markus: yes.. all android makers are suddenly trying to make their phone fuckin huge and everyone wants a tv screen in their pocket and is dying for mini tablets and huge phones

Dmitriy Markus: i prefer apple’s approach. they made the phone taller but not wider  for a reason: so u could use it with one hand

Dmitriy Markus: one thumb. pretty much everything u want to do u can do with one thumb comfortably

Dmitriy Markus: thats important and often overlooked by designers, engineers and consumers

Dmitriy Markus: android users are too excited about how many buttons options and features there are to press and utilize to notice that they have to focus on their phone more

Dmitriy Markus: they have to hold it with one hand and use the other as a stylus

Dmitriy Markus: they have to look at the phone more

Dmitriy Markus: i drive. So I need a phone like the iphone  so i can do shit on my phone.

Dmitriy Markus: anythign i want. while driving.  with one hand. Without straining.
Dmitriy Markus : now if you bring this point up to an android user they’ll instantly pull out their phone, grab it with one hand and reach for the opposite corner with their thumb. Demonstrating how clearly wrong I am. But watch people when they’re on autopilot, performing multiple tasks. Their hand just will not want to make that reach and it’ll just make more sense intuitively to use your second hand.  Sure, some iphone users will do this too. But one phone is still more conducive to one handed workflow than the other.

Dmitriy Markus: i dont need a huge phone. ive never watched a movie on my phone and never will

Dmitriy Markus: if u like watching videos  then android is more for u. that’s another point for them

Dmitriy Markus: if u like not having to be totally engrossed in ur phone anytime u want to do something thats a point for apple

Dmitriy Markus: not that there’s anything wrong wth that. some people love their gadgets and that’s what they want

Dmitriy Markus: and now final point 5

Dmitriy Markus: which is the most nuanced and really requires a good amount of handling of both phones to understand.

Dmitriy Markus: the design

Dmitriy Markus: the iphone is just sexy, sleek and pleasant

Dmitriy Markus: i find it to be a pleasure to use, to hold , to place down. It looks good, it feels good. It’s a joy to use.  i took off the case off my phone. it was a big transition in my life, letting go of that fear of dropping it.

Dmitriy Markus: now, if u anticipate dropping and smashing ur phone: gs3 is the way to go

Dmitriy Markus: its probably more durable

Dmitriy Markus: slightly

Dmitriy Markus: but the iphone is surprisingly strong.  (Watch some endurance tests on youtube)

Dmitriy Markus: i do relish in the joy of using my phone how it was designed.

Dmitriy Markus: that really subtle feeling where u feel like ure interacting with an organic thing instead of a gadget.

 Dmitriy Markus: the feel of the phone and the os, is just a little smoother, a litttle sleeker,  a little more rounded. (that’s changing over time so keep an eye out on android anyway)

Dmitriy Markus: right now, android makes me feel like im a hacker. i have to manager different features. turn wifi, bluetooth, nfc, 4g, on/off. watch charts of memory usage. keep track of whats draining my battery. close tasks.  turn off features. download other features. change the color of my led. rearrange my widgets.

Dmitriy Markus: i dont want to feel like a hacker when im using my phone

Dmitriy Markus: thats what my pc is for and my pc will be a beast

Dmitriy Markus: anyway. That’s that

Dmitriy Markus: a few points about the gs3.. if u want to hack ur shit, have total control, have an abundance of features and options

Dmitriy Markus: thats for u

Dmitriy Markus: if u anticipate dropping ur phone. its for u
Dmitriy Markus: i plan to just get insurance on my iphone 5 and go around case free

Dmitriy Markus: if u want a big screen gs3 is for u.
Dmitriy Markus: some people use apps that need more room

Dmitriy Markus: ask urself which apps u use

Dmitriy Markus: are u filling out spreadsheets?  some people are

Boris : no

Dmitriy Markus: when u open ur phone.. do u want to know the weather, ur stocks, ur facebook feed and 10 other widgets all at once?

Dmitriy Markus: well then gs3 is for u

Boris : no

Dmitriy Markus: if u don’t want to be bombarded with information every time u unlock ur phone

Dmitriy Markus: ios is the way to go

Boris : ok cool. thanks so much

Dmitriy Markus: no problem. above all else

Dmitriy Markus: try to get ur hands on a Samsung and use it

Dmitriy Markus: so u can see for urself

Boris: sev has one

Boris: ill fux with it

Dmitriy Markus: alright cool

Dmitriy Markus: let me know how it goes

Boris: yaya

Boris: im also very much against the case thing

Boris: i kind hate it lots

Boris: also either this screen protector is terrible or i hate screen protectors

Boris: its not smooth at all

Dmitriy Markus: i have a pretty good one on my iphone

Dmitriy Markus: iphone’s screen is surprisingly hard to scratch btw

Dmitriy Markus: especially if u care

Boris: yeah i dont keep it next to anything else in my pocket

Dmitriy Markus: id say the main reason i even use a screen protector  is so i could resell the phone later

Dmitriy Markus: otherwise. id risk a few small scratches

Boris: ive never dropped my phone from a distance of more than 1 foot

Boris: never lost a phone

Boris: im really good at keeping my shit

Dmitriy Markus: good.  awesome

Dmitriy Markus: then you're one of those people that can have nice things

Boris: yes i can

Dmitriy Markus: iphone 5 is nice

Dmitriy Markus: its the epitome of nice

Dmitriy Markus: some would say apple cares too much about how nice it is

Dmitriy Markus: and not enough about whats inside

Dmitriy Markus: but theres something to be said about that.

 Dmitriy Markus: function without form is not very functional

Dmitriy Markus: with a well designed, beautiful product, i'm more likely to use the functions that my phone DOES have